Image file formats – TIF, JPG, PNG, GIF

Briefly, the three most common image file formats, the most
important for general purposes today, are TIF, JPG and GIF.   I
propose we also consider the new PNG format too.

Best file types for these general purposes:

	Photographic Images	Graphics, including Logos or Line art
Properties	Continuous tones, 24 bit color or 8 bit Gray, no text, few lines and edges	Solid colors, up to 256 colors, with text or lines and sharp edges
Best Quality for Archived Master	TIF or PNG  (no JPG artifacts)	PNG or GIF or TIF (no JPG artifacts)
Smallest File Size	JPG with a higher Quality factor can be decent   (JPG is questionable quality for archiving master copies)	TIF LZW or GIF or PNG   (graphics/logos usually permit reducing to 2 to 16 colors for smallest file size)
Maximum Compatibility (PC, Mac, Unix)	TIF or JPG   (the simplest programs may not read TIF LZW)	TIF without LZW or GIF
Worst Choice	256 color GIF is very limited color, and is a larger file than 24 bit JPG	JPG compression adds artifacts, smears text and lines and edges

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