Essay about Highest Quality Image Format

Every day we deal with different types of images. Knowingly or unknowingly we save images in different formats and don’t think about the quality. Maybe for personal use quality of the image is not always important but for professional purposes, image quality really matters. In fact, image quality can be a fact if we want to enlarge any personal photo for any purpose.

In our daily lives, whatever graphics we see online are image files. Almost everything printed on paper, newspaper, dress, t-shirts, plastic, or any other medium is a form of an image file. Depending on use these files come in different formats. So saving a picture in the right format means the design will come out in a picture-perfect quality while a wrong format is enough to ruin the entire design.

All the image we see every day can be divided into two categories

Raster images.

Vector image.

Let’s discuss in details these two categories-

Raster image: raster images are those images created with color dots. These dots are known as pixels. In a raster image, every pixel contains a color and has its contribution to fulfilling the picture. Raster pictures are resolution-dependent. To be simpler, raster pictures are available in a specific size. So if you want to enlarge or resize a raster image, pixels will get stretched. As a result, the image will be simply blurry, pixelated, and distorted.

Raster images are usually used for photographs, digital artwork, banners, ads, social media content, email graphics, etc. the majority of images available on the internet are raster images. Photoshop is a well-known software for creating, designing, and editing raster images. By using Photoshop you will be able to add shadows, effect, and texture to raster images.

CMYK and RGB: All type of raster images can be saved in two basic color modes

CMYK: CMYK initially stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These are four basic colors for printing. Printing machines combine these four colors to create an image where the degree of physical ink varies. That’s why this is also known as subtracting the mix. The two main colors are white and black and each layer changes the initial brightness and contrasts to create the preferred color.

As I said earlier CMYK is used for printing, I think it is already clear this is preferable for any project that will be printed. If you need to recreate any dosing with ink and paint CMYK will serve you best. CMYK projects involve Branding (business card, stationery, signs, storefronts, etc.) and Advertising (billboard, flyer, poster, brochure, car wrap, etc.), Merchandise (t-shirt, hats branding cloths, promotional items like pens, mugs, etc.), packaging (product packaging, restaurant menu, etc.)

RGB: RGB stands for Red, Green, and Blue. Unlike CMYK, RGB is for digital images that are supposed to be displayed on any kind of screen. In RGB format a light device creates any color by mixing red, green, and blue where the intensity varies depending on the desired color. The basic color for RGB is black and then on top of it added red, green, or blue light create the right pigment, even white color can be created by the right intensity of three colors.

Since RGB color mode works on the digital platform, designers can manipulate how the light will be manifested on screen and control the saturation, vibrancy, and shading as well by changing or modifying the intensity of three basic colors.

RGB is perfect for icons, graphics, online logos, ads, images for websites, social media, profile picture, profile background, video, infographics, digital graphics, etc.

Types of raster file: most popular rater files are:

JPG: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) or popularly known as JPG is the widespread format for saving images. This format allows saving pictures in high, medium, and low quality. This type of format is widely used for email, social media, and websites. Unlike TIFF, it takes limited space in the device.

Tiff: Tiff is commonly used by designers and photographers. This type of image format is perfect for commercial purposes as this is suitable for post-production and isn’t compressed. This format also allows any kind of editing however this format occupies a lot of space.

PNG: portable network graphics, widely known as PNG is a significant file format perfect for editing any image. This format is best for its transparent background or partial transparency that allows adding fantastic effects. PNG format saves both photo quality and details. That is why it is ideal for logo designing.

GIF: Graphics interchange format or GIF resembles PNG a lot, as this can be transparent like PNG. However, this format doesn’t support a wide range of colors and partial transparency. So it can’t be an ideal choice for all types of images, although you can create some perfect animations from it.

RAW: Raw files contain signal data from a digital camera. These types of files cannot be seen on the computer directly and unsuitable from print. They have to be processed through the RAW file converter at first then they can be used and edited.

PSD: Photoshop documents or PSD can be produced by Adobe PS. It is an ideal format to preserve images for a long time and edit whenever needed. This format allows you to edit individual layers, retouch, add an effect, or any other manipulation. Just make sure not to merge the layers before saving the image in PSD format. As it is the highest quality image format, it takes a lot of space in the device.

Vector file: vector files use points, lines, curves, and Cartesian planes scaled in comparison to the total area. It is not tied with the number of pixels and every aspect of a vector image is calculated by computer. So if you think of a vector image as a giant math equation it is not wrong at all. In a vector image color, stroke and thickness everything is an equation that turns the shape into art. So unlike the raster image vector image can be enlarged endlessly or shrunk to a small-sized image without compromising the quality and details.

Types of vector files:

PDF: portable document format or PDF is one of the most accessible file formats that many printers work with. This format was created by the Adobe system to transfer files without breaking the fonts or images of the document. As this format ensures the highest quality image for printing it is used for transmitting text and graphic information on the network, like letterhead, important documents contain tables, charts, etc. for printing.

EPS: encapsulated postscript is also known as EPS is a popular vector format, although it includes raster data. Typically, EPS format includes single data that can be used in a larger format. It is the best format to ensure the correct resolution and usually used for sending vector images to customers or designers.

AI: AI is the vector drawing format created by Adobe Illustrator that can contain logo, postcard, print, layout, and any other single-page images. AI format does not contain any image data, rather is a set of lines connected by points. That’s why this format is a great choice for vector representation and can be enlarged without losing image quality and details.

Conclusion: image quality really matters when you have to use them for professional purposes. Even for our personal use images should be saved in such format so that we can reuse or retouch them if needed. So it is necessary to understand when we need which format to ensure the best quality without destroying any important details of the image.