Tutorial Series - Image File Types

Which image file type to use and the differences between common file types - the start of a new tutorial series from
​MXVI Design+Online

Ever wondered what the differences between a .jpg or .png file are? What the heck is a raster image versus a vector image? What are some modern alternatives to using .bmp or .jpg? These are the sort of questions we seek to answer in our MXVI Design+Online tutorial series based on image file types - what they stand for, where they come from and how to use them.

First up - what is a raster image?

Raster images are images that uses individual blocks, or pixels, in order to construct the image. Every digital photo, web image or printed image uses the process of rasterization, or pixelation in order to create these pixels which are then imposed onto a screen or display for you to see. 

​Rasterized images are based on a pre-defined resolution, which means you have a specific number of pixels to work with. The more pixels you have, the higher the resolution. Conversely, if you reduce the resolution, the number of pixels decrease and you will no longer be able to increase the resolution - the image becomes pixelated if you increase the size of the image using the same number of pixels. 

Examples of common raster image file types are .jpg, .png, .tif, .bmp, .gif - most modern image creation or drawing software such as photoshop or paintshop are raster based. It is important to remember to save raster files at the exact dimensions needed for the application. In the next few tutorials being shown over the next few weeks, MXVI Design+Online will explain what each of these file types are used for, how they came to be & how to use them in different scenarios.

​Stay tuned for the next tutorial series on vector images explained coming soon.