KNOW YOUR FILE TYPES

When creating designs and preparing them to send to clients, it is vital to understand the proper format to export your document in. Each format affects the quality of your designs differently and therefore it is important to understand what each one does to your graphic and their specific strengths and weaknesses.

WHY ITS IMPORTANT TO KNOW

This information is important to know when preparing your files to export. Making sure to know and know which formats are. Each one can be used for different purposes and impacts the quality of your file differently. 

JPEG 

JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group and has been one of the most used file formats for digital photography. It is most notable for being able to compress large files into smaller, easily shareable photographs. Its “lossy” compression method means you do lose pixels and information during the compression; however, since this information is minimal, it does not affect the quality of the exported images.

PNG

PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics and is one of the most used file formats for graphics such as logos. It does not lose quality when rasterizing graphics, meaning it creates high-quality images. In addition to this, PNG is also capable of having transparency, making it easier to layer on files or websites.

SVG

SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics and is a vector-based file type. This means that your graphics can be scaled and edited without having to worry about losing quality. This is best used for Logos and vectors that you want to be able to resize infinitely. Based on XML, this file type saves code to plot the points of your shapes so they can be of the highest quality and easily editable.

GIF

GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format and is most used for animated files. While GIFs can be used for both animated and non-animated images, it is most notably used for their animation. It is also known for its relatively small file size, making it great for websites.

PDF

PDF stands for portable document format, and it is an easily readable document that is best used when sharing your file with others. Any file format can be turned into a PDF and it will preserve the layout of the document for anyone who views it. If you are sending your file off to print, a lot of print shops only print PDFs, so it is important to know how to save your document as a PDF in the specific settings within exporting. For example, within the Adobe programs, multiple preset PDF types affect the quality and size of your document.

PROGRAM NATIVE FILES

Each design program has its own designated file type. File types such as .AI and .PSD are designed for their specific software and allow you to retain layer and image information and seamlessly edit in their respective programs. These are best utilized when sharing your files with other designers and wanting them to have the ability to edit your file easily.