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gimp/help/C/file_formats.html
Michael Natterer 4b93eece0a yes-i-patched-them-all-again ... Pre 1.2 Version 4 
2000-12-19  Michael Natterer  <mitch@gimp.org>

	* yes-i-patched-them-all-again ... Pre 1.2 Version 4
2000-12-19 01:53:18 +00:00

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<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>File Formats</TITLE
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><H1
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><A
NAME="FILE-FORMATS"
>File Formats</A
></H1
><A
NAME="AEN306"
></A
><A
NAME="AEN308"
></A
><P
> The <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
> has support for a wide range
of still image and video file formats.
</P
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN312"
>Supported Formats</A
></H2
><P
> The following table lists the formats supported by
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
>:
</P
><DIV
CLASS="TABLE"
><P
><B
>Table 2-1. File Formats</B
></P
><TABLE
BORDER="1"
CLASS="CALSTABLE"
><TR
><TH
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>&nbsp;</TH
><TH
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Read</TH
><TH
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Write</TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>AA - ASCII Art</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>N</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>AVI - Audio/Video Interleave</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>BMP - Bitmap</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>C - "C" Source</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>N</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>CEL - CIMFast Event Language</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>FITS - Flexible Image Transport System</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>FLI - Autodesk FLIC Animation</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>GIF - Graphics Interchange Format
<A
NAME="AEN358"
HREF="#FTN.AEN358"
>[a]</A
>
</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>H - "C" Header File</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>N</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>HRZ - Slow Scan Television</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>HTML - Formatted Table</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>N</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>JPEG - Joint Photographics Expert Group</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>MIFF - Magick Image File Format</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>MPEG - Motion Picture Expert Group</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>N</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>PCX - PC Paintbrush</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>PIX - Inset Systems Bitmap</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>PNG - Portable Network Graphics</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>PNM - Portable Anymap</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>PSD - Photoshop Document</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>N</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>PSP - Paint Shop Pro</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>N</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>PS - PostScript</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>SGI - Silicon Graphics</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Sunras - Sun Raster</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>TGA - Targa Bitmap</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>TIFF - Tagged Image File Format</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>WMF - Windows Meta File</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>N</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>XBM - X Bitmap</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>XCF - GIMP Native</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>XWD - X Window Dump</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>XPM - X Pixmap</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
>Y</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
COLSPAN="3"
>Notes:<BR><A
NAME="FTN.AEN358"
>a. </A
>
You need a license from Unisys to legally save files
in this format.
<BR></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN450"
>What Format Should I Use?</A
></H2
><P
> When saving a file, you need to decide which file format to use.
There are descriptions of some important and popular formats
below to help you choose the right one for your images.
</P
><P
></P
><DL
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>XCF</SPAN
>: <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
>'s
Native Format</DT
><DD
><P
> If you're saving an image that's not
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"finished"</SPAN
> and intend to continue working on
the image in <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
> later, you
should always save it as <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>XCF</SPAN
>.
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>XCF</SPAN
> preserves all of your image's
layers, channels, and masks, as well as your paths,
guides, selections, and other important details.
</P
><P
> However, <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>XCF</SPAN
> is only suitable for
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
>. If you want to share your
image or put the image on the web, you should probably use
another file format <I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>as well as
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>XCF</SPAN
></I
> because most web
browsers, image viewers, and other software packages
cannot read <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>XCF</SPAN
>.
</P
></DD
><DT
>PNG: Portable Network Graphics</DT
><DD
><P
> <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>PNG</SPAN
> can preserve all the transparency
and color of your original image and uses powerful
lossless compression to reduce file sizes. In particular,
computer-generated images usually compress very well.
</P
><P
> Although <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>PNG</SPAN
> supports smooth
transparency, today's most popular web browsers still
don't. While we wait for Microsoft to catch up, you'll
probably want to stick with non-transparent PNGs on web
pages. You can use transparency effectively elsewhere
though.
</P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>JPEG</SPAN
>: Compressed Photographic images</DT
><DD
><P
> Photographs and other images from the real world (which
include most images taken with digital cameras and color
scans) can be compressed very effectively with
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>JPEG</SPAN
>. Usually screenshots, logos, and
computer generated images will not benefit from
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>JPEG</SPAN
>.
</P
><P
> The <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>JPEG</SPAN
> method is lossy, which means
that, although the saved image will appear almost
identical to the original, it will actually have hidden
detail removed. You should not use it on images that you
intend to do additional processing on later because the
loss is exaggerated by repeated use.
</P
><P
> <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
>'s JPEG filter uses JFIF
files for compatability with most existing software. It
allows you to adjust the <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"quality"</SPAN
> of the
image and see immediately how the saved image will look
and how big the file will be.
</P
></DD
><DT
>GIF: Compuserve GIF</DT
><DD
><P
> Unlike all the other file formats described here
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>GIF</SPAN
> requires the use of a colormap.
This means that a maximum of 256 different colors will be
preserved in the saved image.
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
> can handle the conversion
automatically, but the results may sometimes be
disappointing due to this limitation of <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>GIF</SPAN
>.
</P
><P
> Despite the poor compression and limited number of colors,
there are two desirable features of <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>GIF</SPAN
>
for web designers. They are simple forms of transparency
and animation. <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
>'s
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>GIF</SPAN
> filter supports both of these
features.
</P
><DIV
CLASS="WARNING"
><P
></P
><TABLE
CLASS="WARNING"
WIDTH="90%"
BORDER="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="25"
ALIGN="CENTER"
VALIGN="TOP"
><IMG
SRC="../images/warning.gif"
HSPACE="5"
ALT="Warning"></TD
><TD
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
><P
> Support for creating GIFs may not be included in your
version of <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
> due to patent
problems.
</P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></DD
><DT
>BMP: Windows Bitmap</DT
><DD
><P
> This format is often used by applications for Microsoft
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Windows</SPAN
>. Full color images can
be stored in this format, but shortcomings of the
compression scheme mean that the resulting files may be
quite large. Image resolution is preserved, but no other
metadata is stored in the BMP format.
</P
><P
> Some web browsers have included support for viewing
BMP images but this is not common, so you should avoid
using them on the web.
</P
></DD
><DT
><SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>XPM</SPAN
>: X Pixmap</DT
><DD
><P
> This format is sometimes used by applications for the
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>X Window System</SPAN
>. The files
created can be compiled directly into a program by a
software developer, but this convenience comes at a price
of much increased file size. You will probably already
know if this feature is useful to you.
</P
><P
> Some web browsers have included support for viewing XPM
images but this is not common, so you should avoid using
them on the web.
</P
></DD
><DT
>TIFF: Tagged Image File Format</DT
><DD
><P
> One of the oldest formats still commonly in use today,
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>TIFF</SPAN
> is a very powerful but complicated
format. If you need to export images from
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>GIMP</SPAN
> to a package which doesn't
support any of the other formats mentioned earlier in this
section, it will probably accept <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>TIFF</SPAN
>.
</P
><P
> <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>TIFF</SPAN
> can preserve all the transparency
and color of your original image, but you may lose some of
this information when importing the
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>TIFF</SPAN
> into another package.
</P
></DD
></DL
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