2. Raster File Formats
Raster Graphics offer a lot more file formats than Vector but this is
because raster is pretty much industry standard for most images
meaning that raster will be supported more and uses in thousands
of third party editing software for images that in rare cases may
offer their own format to export files.
This may just be for convenience within the software such as
faster loading times compared to loading to a standard format or
may be because certain software will offer features that are not
supported in others and loading them in other programs would
cause errors.
3. Advantages of Raster
Graphics
Raster files generally end up a smaller file size than a vector file,
this is because less is processed into the final image compared to
a Vector file which because of its format can hold more detail in an
image of the same resolution and dpi.
Raster images are the natural choice when representing images
like photos. They store a value for each pixel, compressing the
images with various schemes. Because of the simple data storage
technique, Raster files are usually easy to access between
different programs and are generally faster to transfer and open.
4. Disadvantages of Raster Graphics
Vector files cannot easily be used to store extremely complex
images, such as some photographs, where colour information is
important and may vary on a pixel basis. Vector data displays best
on vectored output devices such as plotters and random scan
displays.
Reconstruction of vector data may take considerably longer than
that in a bitmap file of equivalent complexity, because each image
element must be drawn individually and in sequence.
5. Vector File Formats
Vector formats are a little more scarce with the Vector being a
relatively new format for images after only becoming widely known
following the launch of Adobe Illustrator.
Third party software still offers uncommon file extensions for
vector files although not as many as raster offers. This is because
as previously mentioned Vector is still a recent format and Vector
files just don’t have the same usage capabilities as raster so is
only used for specific tasks such as logo creation thus isn’t as
popular.
6. Advantages of Vector
Graphics
Vector’s way of mapping images mainly benefits logo or
illustrations which, granted, is more niche then Bit-map.
Vector is designed to not lose quality no matter how close
you zoom into it. This also goes for stretching it out as far as
you want without any degrade in quality. This is why vector
is a lot better for prints from pamphlets to billboards.
7. Disadvantages of Vector
Graphics
Vector isn’t as accessible as a raster because vectors have
a much more complex methods to exporting images.
Vectors have to try keep each line as straight as possible or
in bends, try to fill each crack that a pixel wouldn’t be able to
fill. This leads to larger file sizes and a complexity that most
soft wares can’t handle
