Files:

Well, there sure are a bunch of’em, file types that is, over fifty the last time I counted. The good news is that you don’t need to get involved with most of them unless you have a special need or just like to fiddle with different files types. I am PC based at home and the types I commonly use are BMP, WMF, ICO, GIF, JPG, and TIF. I use the BMP files for screen wall paper and screen saver pictures. The WMF files are handy when I’m programming and want to use an image for a window background. The WMF will re-size automatically as the user changes the window size. The ICO files are for Icons I make for either programs or for identifying files in windows. The GIF and JPG files I use exclusively for websites and I’ll say more about these a little farther down. The TIF files are my universal way to save images. I use TIF this way because it has a wide range of capabilities and is commonly found as both an input and output option on most mainstream image software packages. Both GIF and JPG are compressed file types. That is software analyzes the image you are saving and leaves some of the data out of what’s saved on the basis that they save a way to reproduce what was in the whole picture to start with. The result is that the file is smaller than if it was stored as a BMP or TIF for instance. These files are the main stay of the web because sending less data is GOOD. The GIF files are for 256 color images and the JPG files are for the millions of colors images. the main issue I see with these file types is the fact that they are compressed. You have to believe in loss-less compression. In the final analysis though the thing that matters is if you are happy with how your images look. If you keep the compression ratios small the data loss will be small and generally not observable in your images.

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