Common Image File Formats
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Short name | JPEG | JPEG 2000 | PNG | AVIF | GIF | RAW | TIFF | HEIF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Description | JPEG is the most common image format used by digital cameras, it is the most common format for storing and transmitting photographic images on the World Wide Web. | JPEG 2000 is an enhancement of the JPEG standard. It supports transparency, is able to store lossless data. It is also having a better compression level. As it is unsupported by several browsers, it has not been widely used on the Internet. | PNG was created to improve GIF image-file format. Removing patent license issues at that time; and removing 256 colors limitation. | AV1 Image File Format is a recent image format based on the AV1 video codec and with a wide feature set. | GIF is a bitmap image format that allows a lossless compression by reducing the image to 256 distinct colors. It has been replaced by PNG after fear over patent issues. It is still widely used for animation as it's the only format that supports animation and that is widely supported by browsers. | RAW relates to several image file formats since each camera manufacturer has one or several formats (depending on equipments). These files contains the data acquired by sensors almost unprocessed. | TIFF is a file format for storing images losslessly. It is widely supported by image-manipulation applications, by scanning, faxing, word processing, optical character recognition and other applications. | High Efficiency Image File Format is a container format developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The format has several variants and supports individual or sequences of images. | PDF is a file format used to present documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it. |
| Developed by | Joint Photographic Experts Group | Joint Photographic Experts Group | W3C (donated by PNG Development Group) | Alliance for Open Media (AOM) | CompuServe | Camera manufacturers | Adobe | MPEG | Adobe (until 2008) ISO (since 2008) |
| Year | 1992 | 2000 | 1996 | 2019 | 1987 (still) 1989 (animated) | multiple proprietary formats exist | 1986 (version 1) 1992 (version 6) | 2015 | 1993 (first version) 2017 (PDF 2.0) |
| Pros | Small file size Widely supported format Compatibility Good color range | Small file size | Widely accepted format Lossless Transparency support | Small file size | Simple animations/short video clips Widely supported format Transparency support Lossless compression Smaller file sizes | Lossless | Lossless High-quality images Compatible with both PCs and Macs Multiple images and multiple pages can be saved in one file | Lossless Protects intellectual property Maintains printed format | |
| Cons | Lossy compression Not great for text, simple graphics, or illustrations | Processor intensive | Lossless only. Poor compression for photographic images. | Limited support yet | Limited to 256 colors (8-bit per pixel). Only binary transparency. | Large file size | Large file size Not great for web graphics Minor software compatibility issues | Limited support yet Patent-encumbered | Longer browser loading times Non-editable content Not great for complex graphics printing Not really useful as a graphic image |
| Features | |||||||||
| Vector graphics | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Raster image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lossless | No | Yes Lossless and lossy | Yes | Yes Lossless and lossy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes Lossless and lossy | Yes |
| Animation support | No | Yes ISO/IEC 15444-2 | - Animated PNG is an extension to the PNG format which is compatible with the Gecko and WebKit layout engines and many image editing suites. Users of software incompatible with APNG see the first frame as a still. | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Transparency support | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | - Only all-or-nothing, no semi-transparency | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Layers support | No | No | No | No | No | No | - | No | No |
| HDR | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Maximum bit depth | 8-bit | 38-bit | 16-bit | 12-bit | 8-bit (but only 256 different colors) | Typically 14-bit | 32-bit | 8-bit (HEIC) up to 16-bit (HEIX) | |
| CMYK support (for print) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Maximum number of channels | 4 (RGB or CMYK) | 16384 | 4 (RGBA) | 5 (RGBA+depth) | 1 (palette data) | Typically Bayer data (RGBG) | 65535 | ||
| Commonly used for | Photography Photographic images electronically and on the web Printing photographs | JPEG replacement, HD imaging | Icons Simple web graphics like logos Illustrations, or raster text rendering | Animation Simple web graphics | HDR photography, Archiving | Images from scanner HD imaging Working with photographs without image quality loss | Apple iPhone photos | Fixed layout flat documents | |
| Browser support (without plugin) | |||||||||
| Google Chrome | Yes | No | Yes | Yes Chrome 85 | Yes | No | No | - AVIF | Yes |
| Microsoft Edge | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Safari | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Firefox | Yes | No | Yes | Yes Firefox 92 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Opera | Yes | No | Yes | Yes Opera 71 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Internet Explorer | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Additional | |||||||||
| File extensions | .jpg .jpeg .jpe .jif .jfif .jfi | .jp2 .j2c .j2k .jpx .jpf .j2c .j2k | Still: .png; Animated: .png, .apng | .avif .avifs | .gif | .crw .cr2 .raw .rw2 .nef .nrw .orf ... | .tiff .tif | .heif .heifs | |
| Name | Joint Photographic Experts Group | Joint Photographic Experts Group 2000 | Portable Network Graphics | AV1 Image File Format (AVIF) | Graphics Interchange Format | RAW Image file | Tagged Image File Format | High Efficiency Image File Format | Portable Document Format (PDF) |
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