GIF, JPG and PNG File Formats: Pros and Cons

• May 1, 2009
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GIF: Graphics Interchange Format

PROS
- 256 number of colors
- uses lossless compression
- suitable for logos, flat areas of color with well defined regions
- suitable for icons with few colors
- support for transparency
- suitable for small animations

CONS
- the oldest format for web – 1989
- in most cases it has a bigger file size than PNG

PNG: Portable Network Graphics

PROS
- 24bit color / 8bit color(256 colors)
- uses lossless compression
- suitable for flat areas of colors, logos, transparent or semitransparent images
- suitable for icons
- in most cases PNG has a smaller file size than GIF
- it has alpha channel transparency which is more advance than GIF’s transparency
- approved as standard in 1996
- proposed as replacement of GIF by World Wide Web Consortium

CONS
- it is wise to avoid using PNG with big photos and images with details because of the big generated file size
- in different situations it has bigger file sizes than JPG

JPG: Joint Photographic Experts Group

PROS
- 24bit color
- suitable for images, high details & quality pictures
- uses lossy compression
- it is the most used graphic file format
- approved as standard in 1994
- used in design and photography industry – it is likely to see nature photos in JPG file format
- it is good when you are willing to drop quality from a picture for the sake of file size

CONS
- it does not support transparency
- it is not suitable for logos and icons because it does not have transparency and it can generate a bigger file size for small resolution images.