File types pro forma

1. Digital Graphics
File Formats
Alis Rose

2. Raster Graphics
Raster Graphics are made up of Bitmaps which
are images that are made up of pixels. Bitmaps
do not lose or gain any pixels so when enlarged
they will lose quality, as the pixels grow instead
of multiply. When you compress or edit these
types of graphics, they lose pixels and therefore
quality.

3. Vector Graphics
Vector Graphics are made up of vectors. Vectors
have a start and an end point with curves,
points and angles between them. So therefore
when they are resized, there are still as many
pixels to the proportion that you have resized it
by. Vectors can be made bigger and smaller
without losing definition.

4. Raster Graphics

5. JPEG
Stands For Joint Photographic Experts Group
Used For/Example Photographs and Web formats, e.g it is the
format used for Google images most of
the time and facebook, therefore is used
by most people who have a computer as it
is the most basic of file types.
Advantage Have a smaller file size so can be easily
compressed.
It’s compatible with almost every website.
It’s perfect for fast file sharing e.g
Facebook photo.
No editing required to print.
Small file size yet high quality.
Disadvantage Loses quality with each resize due to
compression and recompression, and is
therefore bad for editing/animation (lossy
compression).

6. TIFF
Stands For Tagged Image File Format
Used For/Example Used by graphic designers as a photo
format.
Advantage TIFFs don’t lose any quality from
compression and recompression.
You can also use lossy compression to
make the file size smaller.
It is a recognised format by most
computers and is cross compatible with
MAC and PC’s.
It is the standard format for printing.
Disadvantage The file size can get very big and will take
a long time to upload or download.
Most websites do not support TIFF
uploads.
You need a good specification computer
to be able to process and load the

7. GIF
Stands For Graphics Interchange Format
Used For/Example These are short animations, often used on Tumblr or
to enhance product illustrations as well as provide
visual instructions.
Advantage They take up less memory than the alternative, which
allows them to be used easily online because they load
quicker without losing any quality.
They support having transparent backgrounds which
allows for more flexibility with the animation.
Disadvantage It has much lower quality than the alternative as a GIF
is a series of images played in a loop.
They only have a maximum colour palette of 256
colours which also affects the quality, and makes them
look more pixelated.
They are dependant on internet connection to play
properly when put on a website.

8. BMP
Stands For Bitmap image file
Used For/Example Mostly used for image storing and creating, editing,
and viewing images. They are also the type of images
produced by digital cameras and scanners.
Advantage It has no loss in compression.
Bitmaps are made up of pixels which allow colours to
be blended together which produces a more realistic
image. This format is compatible with most editing
software and is available to upload to most places on
the internet.
Disadvantage It has a large file size due to the amount of information
needed to display all the pixels in various colours.
They tend not to enlarge without becoming pixelated.
They lose quality when being compressed and
enlarged again due to not being lossless.

9. Vector Graphics

10. PSD
Stands For Photoshop Document
Used For/Example Mostly for image editing and therefore professional
image editors would more than likely use this type o
file.
Advantage The can handle simple vector layers which makes them
more useful for importing.
Because of their large file sizes, they can save a lot of
file information which make them better for working
files. They also support transparency so images can be
saved without a background, this allows for more
flexibility
Disadvantage File sizes can get very big, since these lossless images
use no compression. It makes it difficult to transfer or
email.
They also support colour profiles, spot colours, masks
and alpha channels.
They tend not to be supported outside of Adobe
products.

11. AI
Stands For Adobe Illustrator Art
Used For/Example Used for logo creation, a marketing team
from a company are likely to use this file.
Advantage No loss in definition when rescaling, so
images are then of a higher quality.
Disadvantage Large file sizes.
File can only be edited and opened on
Adobe, which limits their compatibility
with anything else.

12. FLA
Stands For Flash File
Used For/Example They are used to create games, and
therefore animations.
Advantage Can produce high quality files with small
sizes. This makes them easy and fast to
upload to the web, it can also use both
sound and moving image which allows
them to be a more sophisticated file type
to use for moving image.
Disadvantage Won’t work without Adobe Flash Player,
as it is an Adobe-specific file.

13. WMF
Stands For Windows Meta File
Used For/Example Used for logos, these are similar to AI files.
However this is the windows version
mainly used for clipart. These would also
be used by a marketing team.
Advantage Can be made big and small without losing
quality and they contain both vector and
bitmap graphics.
Disadvantage They are only available to use on Windows
specific platforms and have a low quality.

14. File Format Capture
and Optimising

15. Compression
Definition Lossy compression is the way in which file
sizes are reduced by reducing the amount
of information that is saved.
Advantage Saves memory by reducing the pixels per
inch and therefore file size.
Disadvantage Lowers quality and therefore images
appear pixelated because less information
is saved each time.

16. Image Capture
Method Scanner
How is it used for image capture of graphics You use a machine that reads what the image looks
like and puts it on your computer in your chosen
format, it is a way of digitalising physical images.
Method Camera
How is it used for image capture of graphics Different types of light enter the camera through the
lens, and then this is recorded by a sensor and turns
that information into pixels and this then produces a
digital image.
Method Graphics Tablet
How is it used for image capture of
graphics
You draw your image onto the tablet like a
normal piece of paper and the computer
picks up the movements and repeats them
on the screen.

17. Optimising
Why would you optimise? You would optimise to ensure easy loading
and viewing on the web.
How can you optimise? You can do this by compressing the image,
reducing the size in Photoshop or bit
depth aswell as reducing the resolution.
Advantage to optimising One advantage is it makes images load
faster on the internet because it has a
smaller file size.
Disadvantage to optimising One disadvantage is low quality because
there is less pixel information.

18. Storage

19. File Size
What could affect a Working Scale
(Photoshop) document file size?
Changing the size, changing the resolution,
changing the bit depth, or compressing it
will affect a Working Scale document file
size.
How could you reduce the file size of a
Working Scale document without
affecting quality?
You could do this by using a vector file
type.
What is an advantage of scaling up
images before exporting?
The image will have a higher quality and
look better.
What is a disadvantage of scaling up
images before exporting?
It will take longer and be a large file size.