Most of your digital photos use the JPEG format, but when you download an image from the web, it may be using the more modern WebP format. But why do we need so many file types? And how are they different?
Why Do Image Files Need Different Formats?
- Thread starter Amir Shoam
- Start date
I'm so happy that Safari finally added WebP support. JPG files sizes can sometimes be problematic even with high compression and every KB matters. Now I'm waiting on AVIF support in Safari too.
Avro Arrow
Posts: 3,721 +4,821
The funny thing is that I have ALWAYS pronounced GIF with a hard G. It's probably because, as the graphic shows, a soft G would make it sound like peanut butter. 
envirovore
Posts: 629 +1,187
The funny thing is that I have ALWAYS pronounced GIF with a hard G. It's probably because, as the graphic shows, a soft G would make it sound like peanut butter.
Not even good peanut butter at that.
Avro Arrow
Posts: 3,721 +4,821
I don't mind it. I like Skippy better though.
BadThad
Posts: 1,364 +1,641
Good article, bought me up to speed on this topic! Thanks
Well, to be fair, this is how the English language got this weird. People pronounce/write words wrong and the they are forced to accept these wrong words because so many use it.The funny thing is that I have ALWAYS pronounced GIF with a hard G. It's probably because, as the graphic shows, a soft G would make it sound like peanut butter.
The correct way to say it is with a soft g as like gin.
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
I can't stand anything but JIF
Athlonite
Posts: 479 +228
The correct way to say it is with a soft g as like gin.
Wrong it's a hard G as in Get (lost) if it truly were a soft g then the word Graphic would be pronounced geraphic which it is not
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
It is an abbreviation for Graphics Interchange Format. Each letter has its own alphabetic sound. Why does anyone think it needs to be sounded out as if it is a word?
If you are taking that route then why aren't you pronouncing it G.I.F. since it is an acronym? (notice how it's a soft G here too?) You just have to read the acronym without pauses.
When you shorten the name Grant Mathew, do you use an hard G when reading G.M.?
Do you also read the G in G.I. Joe with a hard G?
We also know that it is a soft G because the creator of gif said so.
Last edited:
No, people pronounce/write words wrong because there are no consistent pronunciation rules for anything. Case in point: There are at least three different ways to pronounce gif that are consistent with how English typically works.Well, to be fair, this is how the English language got this weird. People pronounce/write words wrong and the they are forced to accept these wrong words because so many use it.
The correct way to say it is with a soft g as like gin.
"consistent with how English typically works" - I'm not sure I would call that consistent. it's more like English has more exceptions to rules than actual rules which kinda supports what I said before. Very few languages have this problem (maybe kanji characters top it, but that's a different kind of mess
).
File compression and conversion, along with a few other factors, have contributed to those changes. It's all about space, generally, websites have thousand even millions of images in them to save the bandwidth and space the need for different formats emerged.
Presently we have 12 different image formats,
These are:
JPG-JPEG, BMP, EPF, GIF, ICO, HDR/EXR, PNG, SVG, TGA, TIFF, WBMP, and WebP.
Presently we have 12 different image formats,
These are:
JPG-JPEG, BMP, EPF, GIF, ICO, HDR/EXR, PNG, SVG, TGA, TIFF, WBMP, and WebP.
Danny101
Posts: 2,035 +842
Good refresher. Sometimes I get tasked to scan and print school pictures and some are blown up to 8 x 11, and the original are the 6 x 8. So I have to bump up the resolution. I spend a lot of time dialing it in because it's usually with a different all-in-one printer than a previous time and they're all different. I generally scan to JPEG. Now I realize that there are better formats to scan to that would make my job easier. It's been a while, and I may have used the TIFF format the last time, but I don't quite remember. Although, when I digitally distribute to family and friends, it's always by way of JPEG. And at a quality level for 8 x 11 prints if they so choose go that size. The real work is in the scanning. I see that to get every web page down to size, most if not all of these formats are strategically used. Informative. SVG sounds like ray tracing for logos.
tokyojerry
Posts: 30 +7
Well, to be fair, this is how the English language got this weird. People pronounce/write words wrong and the they are forced to accept these wrong words because so many use it.
The correct way to say it is with a soft g as like gin.
But is also subjective as well and not necessarily right or wrong. When I was in elementary school, I was taught that ain't is grammatically an incorrect contraction. Now, many people use it. Such is the evolution of the crazy english language. Numerous examples.Well, to be fair, this is how the English language got this weird. People pronounce/write words wrong and the they are forced to accept these wrong words because so many use it.
The correct way to say it is with a soft g as like gin.
Yes it is subjective.
tokyojerry
Posts: 30 +7
It might be interpreted as such but...
don't becomes do not
isn't becomes is not
but ....
ain't does NOT become ai not
DSirius
Posts: 788 +1,613
Great article, thank you for it.
I must point out that recently I read a lot of great, quality article on TechSpot.
I barely have time to comment on all as I would like.
Congratulation for the TechSpot editorial team and keep doing what you're doing.
We're enjoying and support you.
I must point out that recently I read a lot of great, quality article on TechSpot.
I barely have time to comment on all as I would like.
Congratulation for the TechSpot editorial team and keep doing what you're doing.
We're enjoying and support you.
Avro Arrow
Posts: 3,721 +4,821
Well, not necessarily. The letter G with an I after it could be a soft G like in the word Gigantic or it could be a hard G like in the word Give. About the only hard and fast rule about the letter G is that it's always hard if followed by a consonant (like Graphic and Glen).
Remember that English is a mishmash of completely unrelated origin languages with words from Celtic/Gaelic (Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, etc.), Friesian, Anglo-Saxon, Jutish and French. As a result, there's no way to know exactly how something is pronounced because it depends on the word's origin. In this case, .GIF's origin is modern English which already has no hard and fast rules for G with a vowel after it so... yeah, it's messed up.
Personally, I'm like you and have always pronounced GIF with a hard G but I never knew if it was correct or not. To be honest though, I never really cared either!
Personally, I always just use .JPG because it seems to be the most standard type on the internet and it has good compression to keep the file sizes small.
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