What Image Format Should I Use?

Jpeg, PNG, eps, svg, there’s so many types of image files, it can be quite daunting to know which to use where! No worries, we’ve put together a handy little post detailing all the image types you will ever need and where to use them!
 
1.     JPEG
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which is the name of the committee that helped create it. JPEG’s (or JPG) are the most common image types, but that doesn’t mean it’s to be used everywhere. In general, JPEG’s aren’t the highest quality so they’re mainly to be used when you don’t need a huge image with little text, such as on a social media post or blog heading. Don’t use this format if you have a lot of text on your image, as the quality will not be high enough.
 
2.     PNG
PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics, and in general, if you can use this over a JPEG, you should. (Unless you need a really small file, then we would still suggest JPEG.) Text can be read much easier on a PNG image and the colour quality is maintained. 

3.     TIFF
Meaning Tagged Image File Format, this is used for high quality images, mainly by photographers. The downside is that it’s a rather large file, but the quality is 10x better than a any other on this list. As the file size is big, we would only use this file type for print as the loading time for an image this size on a website or social media would be extremely long. 

4.     SVG
This stands for Scalable Vector Graphics which as the name suggests, is a vector, which means it can be scaled up in size without losing quality. Generally an SVG is used on simple logos, simple illustrations on your website or digital project. Don’t use this on detailed images as it isn’t ideal. Note that you can’t edit a SVG file, unlike the previous items on this list.

5.     EPS
This means Encapsulated Postscript, which means it’s a text based document. This means that it is ideal if you are including a logo in your printed documents, but as it’s not a standard web image file it won’t be supported online, so only use it for print. 

So those are the main image types that you should know and when to use them. We hope you find this useful.