Convert Pictures for the Web

Deciding when to use JPEG or GIF Format

If you are relatively new to website building and need to convert pictures for the web, you'll first need to understand the differences between using jpeg and gif formats.

Once you know the difference then you can choose the right format to suit your image, and keep your file sizes as small as possible to keep your website load times nice and quick.

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.

	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	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.

Back to Home from Convert Pictures for the Web