For Creative Media Studies.

1. Digital Graphics
File Formats
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2. Raster Graphics
• Raster Graphics are a type of graphics
composed of bitmaps, tiny pixels of colour
that make up the entirety of an image.
Because they are made up of bitmaps, Raster
Graphic images will often suffer a loss of
quality due to image distortion if they are
resized.

3. Vector Graphics
• A Vector Graphic is different to a Raster
Graphic because Vector Graphics will not
suffer image distortion due to resizing. This is
because, rather than being composed of small
bitmaps, Vector Graphics are made up of, as
the name would suggest, vectors. Vectors
have a path which the computer will recognize
at any size, rather than small blocks of colour.

4. Raster Graphics

5. JPEG
Stands For Joint Photographic Experts Group
Used For/Example JPEGs are a commonly used file type, often
used for sharing photos over the internet.
Advantage JPEGs are a small file type due to file
compression, which means they do not
take up much computer storage and can
be shared and downloaded easily.
Disadvantage JPEGs are a relatively low quality image file
compared to other image file sorts, due to
being compressed. They can also lose
more and more image quality each time
they are edited, due to having to be
compressed every time they are saved.

6. TIFF
Stands For Tagged Image File Format
Used For/Example Used often in Graphic Designs, such as
magazines.
Advantage Documents that span multiple pages can
be saved into a single TIFF file, which is
especially useful for Graphic Designers
creating a magazine. They can also retain
their image quality even after being
compressed.
Disadvantage TIFF files can have a very large file size,
which means they may take up more
space on various devices that other image
files would not.

7. GIF
Stands For Graphics Interchange Format
Used For/Example GIFs are primarily used on the internet to
play short animations.
Advantage The use of a GIF to display a short
animation, often not lasting more than a
few seconds, is a good alternative to using
a short video animation, which often
would take up more storage space.
Disadvantage Many GIFs may have a poor image quality
due to the limited colour palette allowed
by the file, as well as being a file that
cannot be edited once it has been saved as
a GIF.

8. BMP
Stands For Bitmap Image File
Used For/Example BMPs are often used to save raster images
that use Bitmaps, and can be used to
create Windows Wallpaper images.
Advantage BMP files do not lose image quality if they
are compressed.
Disadvantage BMP files have a very large file size, which
may take up large amounts of storage
space.

9. Vector Graphics

10. PSD
Stands For Photoshop Document
Used For/Example PSD files are often used in the creation of
magazine covers.
Advantage PSD files will save all the layers used in the
creation of an image, as well as supporting
image transparency, which is very
important for certain forms of media and
graphics, such as T-Shirt design.
Disadvantage PSD files cannot be opened by someone
who does not have Photoshop
downloaded on to their own device, and
must be converted to a different file type.

11. AI
Stands For Adobe Illustrator Art
Used For/Example Can be used in the creation of logos.
Advantage As AI is a Vector Graphic file type, it can be
scaled to any size without loss of image
quality or image distortion.
Disadvantage Certain software is needed to be able to
open an AI file, or else it needs to be
converted into a different image file to be
seen by someone without the software.

12. FLA
Stands For Flash File
Used For/Example Used to create animations and games.
Advantage FLAs have a small file size, despite being of
a high quality. They also include both
sound and video.
Disadvantage FLAs can cause websites they are
uploaded to to load slowly.

13. WMF
Stands For Windows Metafile
Used For/Example WMFs are often used in the creation of
logos.
Advantage WMFs can be scaled to a variety of
different sizes with no loss of image
quality and without suffering any image
distortion.
Disadvantage WMFs are not supported on much
software, and will often have to be
converted in order to use images that
were originally WMFs on certain software
and applications.

14. File Format Capture
and Optimising

15. Compression
Definition Compression is a method of file size
reduction to make a file type take up less
storage space in a device.
Advantage A compressed file will take up less storage
space, allowing for a smoother running
device with more storage space for new
files.
Disadvantage The file that is compressed may often
suffer from a loss of image quality, as well
as image distortion.

16. Image Capture
Method Scanner
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
Scanners can capture a pre-existing,
physical image, such as a photograph or
drawing, and convert it into a digital file.
Method Camera
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
A camera can be used to capture images
of real, physical things and people.
Method Graphics Tablet
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
Graphic Tablets can be used to create
images, in a similar fashion to drawing, but
in a digital format.

17. Optimising
Why would you optimise? Optimized files can be more easily viewed
on the internet, so that they load quicker.
How can you optimise? A simple way to optimize a file is to make
the image size smaller.
Advantage to optimising An optimized image file will load faster on
the internet.
Disadvantage to optimising An optimized image file may lose defintion
or colour quality due to lowered resolution
and/or bit depth.