What is the difference between “JPG” / “JPEG” / “PNG” / “BMP” / “GIF” / “TIFF” Image?

Question

I have seen many types of image extensions but have never understood the real differences between them. Are there any links out there that clearly explain their differences?

Answer 1

JPG > Joint Photographic Experts Group

1 JPG images support 16 million colors and are best suited for photographs and complex graphics

2 JPGs do not support transparency.

PNG > Portable Network Graphics

1 It's used as an alternative to the GIF file format when the GIF technology was copyrighted and required permission to use.

2 PNGs allow for 5 to 25 percent greater compression than GIFs, and with a wider range of colors. PNGs use two-dimensional interlacing, which makes them load twice as fast as GIF images.”

3 Image that has a lot of colors or requires advanced variable transparency, PNG is the preferred file type.

GIF > Graphics Interchange Format

1 Reduces the number of colors in an image to 256.

2 GIFs also support transparency.

3 GIFs have the unique ability to display a sequence of images, similar to videos, called an animated GIF.

4 If the image has few colors and does not require any advanced alpha transparency effect, GIF is the way to go.

SVG > Scalable Vector Graphics

1 SVGs are a web standard based on XML that describe both static images and animations in two dimensions.

2 SVG allows you to create very high-quality graphics and animations that do not lose detail as their size increases/decreases.