That is, sooner or later, the need to create images as part of your digital marketing strategy ends up arising, either during the customization of a template, be it for social networks or the creation of an e-book.
And it is at that moment; we find several strange acronyms that do not make much sense at first glance. You know, the ones that come at the end of the file name don't seem to make much of a difference.
BUT THEY HAVE IT!
They are the different image formats.
The acronyms are the extensions corresponding to the formats. And that's what I'll talk about today.
But first, you need to understand what a format is and what types of images are.
Image types
To begin, we are going to understand that, as was already explained in our exclusive article on graphic design, there are two types of images, digitally speaking:
Bitmap and vector.
Don't confuse formats with types! Those two types of images will be covered in this article on image formats. They have some differences, and they directly affect the way they are used.
Bitmap
Also known as "bitmap" (literal translation) or raster image (from English raster ), it is one of the most common types of images.
Bitmaps are a bitmap. That means that the image is made up of different tiny dots (pixels).
Each of the pixels is assigned a color and, through X and Y coordinates, those colored pixels are positioned in a mesh and thus form an image.
Photos are bitmaps.
Cartoon vector
They are images that are based on polygons formed by points. These points are interpreted by the computer taking into account their distances.
Thus, the vectors are infinitely scalable. You can increase a vector as much as you want, as there is no loss of resolution in the process.
Vectors present a lower amount of detail than a bitmap due to their limitations. However, some artists develop techniques using vectors that approximate the graphic of actual photos, as in the example:
Now that we know the difference between these two types of files let's learn about the different image formats.
What are the image formats?
BMP
The meaning of this acronym is a bitmap.
In the 90's many images with the extension “ .BMP” could be found on the internet. The problem is that the compression rates of BMP files are meager, which makes the files very heavy (so that the image does not lose resolution).
This being the case, we do not recommend the use of this format.
Tiff
Also known as TIF, it is the image format that is widely used for print files. It is very versatile and maintains the resolution, allows the use of layers, among others, but it is also a cumbersome format.
Which means that it is not suitable for digital use.
Jpeg
Also known as JPG, it is the most famous of the formats used digitally. Its adjustable compression rate is what encourages its use in digital media.
Through that possibility, you can balance image quality/size.
Still, even with minimal compression, the file size is not that large.
It is highly recommended for digital media; however, it lacks the alpha channel (transparency).
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