File Types - Lakelands Computing

The choice of file type can make the difference between your multimedia product / graphic creation being suitable for its purpose , and user friendly, or not. There are a few file types you need to be aware of and when to use them. There is normally a direct link between file size and quality - Lower file size = lower quality (usually) - compression plays a part in this too. Files on the internet ideally want to be a small file size so they load up (and download / stream) quickly.

Images
File Type	What it is used for / When to use it	What makes it a good choice	Disadvantages	Compressed?
TIFF	For graphics that are going to be printed, especially high quality	It stores a lot of information on the image and allows high quality	Large files sizes	Not usually, can use lossless compression
JPG	For web and lower quality printing	Small file sizes	Lower quality, pixelates when re sized	Yes, lossy
PNG	Mostly web,	Has transparency and lots of colours	Lower quality	Yes, lossless
GIF	Animation and some web	Can store multiple frames, has animation but less colours than png	Lack of colour, lower quality	Yes, lossless
PDF	Print and web based documents	Shows exactly how something will print, small file size	Hard to edit, or even copy some images	Yes, lossless
PSD	Photoshop files, it is the proprietary file type for all photoshop files	It was created to work with photoshop, allows full control and editing	Needs specialist software to read	No

Video (animations can be stored as video files)
File Type	What it is used for / When to use it	What makes it a good choice	Disadvantages	Compressed?
MPG / MPEG	Can play audio and video. used when no editing	Small file size,	Low quality	Yes, lossy
MP4	Can play audio and video, can be edited, sometimes used for streaming	Small file sizes	Lower quality (bigger file size than MPG)	Yes, lossless
AVI	Compatible with lots of software, ideal for storing on home PC	Can choose the quality and size combination you want	Larger files sizes	Yes, lossless
WMV	Windows Media Video, Microsoft creation	Small files, works with older systems	Poor quality	Yes, lossy
MOV	Apple Creation to work with its Quicktime player	High quality , ideal for Apple Computers	Large files, not grea with non quicktime players	Yes, lossless
FLV, SWF	Flash video, created by Adobe to work with Flash	OK for old systems (not used much anymore)	Flash is no longer popular. Doesn't work on ios etc.	Yes, lossy
WEBM	Created by google for use on the web. Used on HTML5 Video streaming sites	Relatively small in size	Lower quality than some	Yes, can be lossy or lossless
OGG	Open source, high quality streaming	Can be used by lots of software, higher quality than WEBM	Takes longer to stream due to larger file size	Yes, lossy

Audio (sound)
File Type	What it is used for / When to use it	What makes it a good choice	Disadvantages	Compressed?
MP3	Most common audio format	Small files, only includes sound that peope can hear	Quality can be low	yes, lossy
WAV	Wave files, developed in 1991	Most software will play it	Larger file sizes	Not usually
AIFF	Audio Interchange File Format, developed in 1988 for Macs	Designed for Macs by apple	Larger file sizes	Not usually
AAC	Advanced Audio Coding, developed in 1997, used by youtube	Sounds better than MP3 at same bit rates	None really, just didn't become popular	Yes, lossy
WMA	Windows Media Audio, Microsoft owned format	Sounds better than MP3	Doesn't work on all platforms ,no benefit over AAC	Yes, lossy
FLAC	Free Lossless Audio Codec (launched 2001).	60% compression with no data loss.  Full quality at half the file size. Works on most platforms	Not supported on iTunes and ioS	Yes, lossless
ALAC	Apple Lossless Audio Codec (launched 2004)	Apples alternative to FLAC	Slightly less efficent than FLAC	Yess
OGG (Vorbis)	Open Source	Outperforms most other lossy formats - smaler files for equivalent quality	Not many devices support it	Yes, lossy