Lots of colors? Use JPEG. Solid colors and sharp lines? Use GIF or PNG.
Different image formats compress the image data differently, and have different strengths and weaknesses. The JPEG format is good for images where colors blend smoothly from one to another. Photographs are good examples, because they usually have many subtle shadows and variations of color. The GIF and PNG formats are good for images that have relatively few colors and no gradations. Most small web graphics fall into this category. These formats will compress these images well, and any lettering, lines, and edges in the images will remain sharp. PNG transparency is much richer than GIF transparency, allowing partial transparency and other interesting effects. However, Internet Explorer for Windows (even version 6) doesn’t support anything more than GIF-style transparency. Note that AOL’s cache proxy servers convert images to their highly compressed ART image format (*.
Different image formats compress the image data differently, and have different strengths and weaknesses. The JPEG format is good for images where colors blend smoothly from one to another. Photographs are good examples, because they usually have many subtle shadows and variations of color.The GIF and PNG formats are good for images that have relatively few colors and no gradations. Most small web graphics fall into this category. These formats will compress these images well, and any lettering, lines, and edges in the images will remain sharp.PNG transparency is much richer than GIF transparency, allowing partial transparency and other interesting effects. However, Internet Explorer for Windows (even version 6) doesn’t support anything more than GIF-style transparency.Note that AOL’s cache proxy servers convert images to their highly compressed ART image format (*.
