Images standards



Acronym

Full Name

Purpose

Description

Reference

GIF

Graphics Interchange Format

Data streamed-oriented file format for graphics

GIF is a data stream-oriented file format used to define the transmission protocol of LZW-encoded bitmap data. GIF images may be up to eight bits (256 colours) in depth and are always compressed. It compresses about 5 times the original size.

http://www.compuserve.com/

JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group

Compressed file format for graphics

ISO standardized image compression mechanism based on quality loss not perceivable for human eye. Therefore, JPEG is intended for compressing images that will be looked at by humans. The small errors introduced by JPEG may be a problem to image-analysis algorithms. It stores full colour information, 24 bits/pixel. The degree of looseness can be varied by adjusting compression parameters.

ftp.uu.net/graphics/jpeg/jpeg.documents.gz

PNG

Portable Network Graphics

Data streamed-oriented file format for graphics

Bitmap recommendation whose creation has been motivated by the legal situation surrounding the GIF format. It is a portable, well-compressed standard for lossless bitmapped image files. Although the initial motivation was to replace GIF, the design provides some useful features not available in GIF.

http://www.boutell.com//boutell/png/

RealPix

RealPix

Stream multimedia presentations on the Web

RealPix is RealNetworks' new format for streaming graphics and media such as audio and text for RealPlayer G2. It follows the SMIL Recommendation by W3C. RealPix is not a radical departure from standard web formats, in fact it is a generic name for graphics optimized for streamed delivery.

http://service.real.com/help/library/guides/realpix