When dealing with art files, you may encounter a variety of different file types that designers and printers need to produce quality work for you.
Here are the most common types that you may encounter.
GIF
Graphics Interchange Format
A GIF is a low-resolution file type used on the Internet, often used in simple animated graphics. GIFs should never be used in printed pieces. They are just too low resolution and not intended for print.
TIF or TIFF
Tagged Image File Format
TIFFs can be universally placed into most programs on a MAC or PC. The TIFF format works well with photos and graphics that have dot patterns or screens. For quality printing, they must be scanned and saved at 300 dpi or higher. TIFF is a pretty universal format for printing.
EPS
Encapsulated PostScript
An EPS “embeds” the screen-view of the font into the file, but it will NOT include the printer-font information. When saving a file that includes fonts as an EPS, you must change the font to “paths.” This can be done in Illustrator or InDesign Adobe Software.
If someone asks for Vector Art, they usually mean an EPS or an AI file. EPS files are almost always high rez, and they are fairly easy to manipulate with the right software.
PNG
Portable Network Graphics
PNG was created as an improved, non-patented replacement for GIFs. PNG images are used almost exclusively on the Internet, and are almost always low rez.
JPEG or JPG
Joint Photographic Experts Group
JPEGs are a standardized compression format that makes images smaller for quicker travel over a network. JPEG’s don’t mean low resolution necessarily, but they usually are. High rez JPEGS can be used in print.
Portable Document Format
PDFs are a widely used and highly popular way of transporting large, complicated files across networks, to printers ot even office files to colleagues. PDF files can be high or low resolution. It simply depends on the person creating the file and what they are using it for.This file type can be press quality, but isn’t always; it can be editable, but isn’t always. You really have to open up the file to see what can be done with it, or know the person generating it to determine if it can be used for producing printed pieces.