Which File Format to Use – JPEG, TIFF Or RAW?
In this Digital Photography for Beginners article we are going to look at file formats. In past times, photographs would be captured onto light sensitive film. Then, after development in the darkroom, a negative would be produced. With digital photography, images are stored as a digital file. For viewing, the file is decoded – and there are 3 main types of file used – JPEG, TIFF and RAW. Before we look at these file types, it is pertinent to explain the difference between “lossy” and “lossless” files. When a picture is taken, the camera records the data onto the memory card as a file. If all of the data is stored, this is known as a lossless file. These files are large in size. RAW files are lossless. To reduce file size, the camera can discard part of the data not easily perceptible to the human eye. A JPEG is a lossy file. A TIFF file is, in principle, a flexible format that can be lossless or lossy. JPEG – Is the most common file format used by amateur photographers, mainly because
