Convert Pictures for the Web

Below is a quick comparison chart so you can best understand when to save an image as a gif, and when to chose a jpeg format. Keep in mind that compressing gifs is a much more complicated process than compressing a jpeg image.

	GIF	JPEG
Recommended For	Graphics, animation, illustrations	Photographs, graphics with blending or fading colours
Type of Compression	Lossy	Lossless
File Size	Images can be saved as tiny files, more complicated compression	File sizes usually larger than gifs, good compression
Colours	1-bit to 8-bit colour 256 colours (indexed colour)	24-bit colour millions of colours (RGB colour)
Benefits	Used for animations small image size	Good colour retention and clarity Excellent compression qualities allowing large images to be used Easy compression process
Difficulties	Extra steps involved to compress images	Limited control over the compression process

If you are trying to save a photographic image as a gif it will appear jagged and disjointed, and if you try to save a graphic as a jpeg, again the image quality will be compromised, so it pays to understand which file format to use.