File Formats and Compressions
This section provides detailed information about the image formats and compressions that ImageGear supports.
- File Formats provides background information about different types of file formats, and contains additional topics that provide information on the following:
- What's the Best Format for...? lists which formats best support various types of images (for example, which formats support an alpha channel). This section provides you with a starting point for deciding which file formats to use in your application.
- Format Bit Depths is a table that lists the bit depths and the read/write capabilities of the supported formats. Using this table, you can easily find out whether an image can be converted to a particular format.
- File Formats Reference provides information about every ImageGear supported format, its ID, supported versions, encoding type, multi-page and alpha channel support, supported compressions, color spaces and bit depths for read and write, as well as information about ImageGear supported features and filter control parameters.
- Metadata Structures provides detailed information about ImageGear supported metadata.
- Compressions provides information about every ImageGear supported imaging compression.
This topic provides information about the following:
Supported Formats and Compressions
ImageGear supports the following formats and compressions in the following categories:
Raster Color and Grayscale
Format |
Full Name |
Support |
BMP |
Microsoft Windows Bitmap |
RW |
CLP |
Windows Clipboard |
RW |
CR2 |
Canon CR2 Format |
R |
CRW |
Canon CRW Format |
R |
CUR |
Windows cursor |
RW |
CUT |
Dr. Halo |
RW |
DCRAW |
Digital format |
R |
DCX |
Paintbrush (Intel multi-page FAX format) |
RW |
DIB |
DIB (Microsoft Windows Device Independent Bitmap) |
RW |
DICOM |
DICOM (Digital Imaging & Communication in Medicine) |
RW |
DNG |
Digital Negative file format |
R |
GEM |
GEM Raster |
R |
GIF |
CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) |
RW |
Hasselblad Raw |
Hasselblad Format |
R |
HD Photo |
HD Photo (Windows Media Photo) |
RW |
Headerless |
Headerless Format |
R |
ICO |
ICO (Windows icon) |
RW |
IFF |
Interchange File Format |
RW |
Imacon Raw |
Imacon Format |
R |
IMG |
Xerox 9700 graphic image (IMG) |
R |
IOCA |
IBM IOCA (Image Object Content Architecture) |
RW |
JPEG |
JPEG File Interchange Format |
RW |
JPEG 2000 |
JPEG 2000 |
RW |
JPX |
JPEG 2000 Extensions |
RW |
KodakRAW |
Kodak Format |
R |
LeicaRAW |
Leica/Panasonic Format |
R |
MEF |
Mamiya Format |
R |
MODCA |
IBM MO:DCA (Mixed Object Document Content Architecture) |
RW |
MOS |
Leaf Format |
R |
MRW |
Konica Minolta Format |
R |
NCR |
NCR |
RW |
NEF |
Nikon Format |
R |
ORF |
Olympus Format |
R |
PBM |
Portable Bitmap File Format |
RW |
PCD |
Kodak Photo CD |
R |
PCX |
PC Paintbrush File Format |
RW |
PEF |
Pentax/Samsung Format |
R |
PGM |
Portable Graymap File Format |
RW |
PhaseOne Raw |
Phase One Format |
R |
PNG |
Portable Network Graphics |
RW |
PNM |
Portable Any-Map File Format |
RW |
PPM |
Portable Pixmap File Format |
RW |
PSB |
Adobe Photoshop Big |
RW |
PSD |
Adobe Photoshop |
RW |
PTOCA |
Presentation Text Object Content Architecture |
R |
RAF |
Fujifilm Format |
R |
RAS |
Sun Raster Data Format |
RW |
Scitex CT |
Scitex CT |
RW |
SGI |
Silicon Graphics Image |
RW |
SonyRaw |
Sony Format |
R |
TGA |
Truevision Targa |
RW |
TIFF |
Tagged Image File Format |
RW |
WPG |
WordPerfect Graphics Metafile |
R |
XPM |
X PixMap |
RW |
XPS |
XML Paper Specification |
RW |
XWD |
X Window Dump |
RW |
Raster Bitonal (1-Bit)
Format |
Full Name |
Support |
BTR |
Brooktrout |
RW |
CAL |
CALS Raster |
RW |
IMR |
IMRS-Raster image |
R |
IMT |
IMNET (Medical Image Format) |
RW |
KFX |
Kofax Group4 image |
R |
LV |
Lazer View format |
R |
MSP |
MS Paint |
R |
WBMP |
Wireless Bit-Map |
RW |
XBM |
X BitMap |
RW |
Vector
Format |
Full Name |
Support |
CGM |
Computer Graphics Metafile |
RW |
DGN |
MicroStation Drawing |
RW |
DWF |
Design Web Format |
RW |
DWG |
AutoDesk AutoCAD |
RW |
DXF |
AutoDesk AutoCAD |
RW |
HPGL |
Hewlett Packard Graphics Language |
RW |
PDF |
Adobe Portable Document Format |
RW |
SVG |
Scalable Vector Graphics |
RW |
U3D |
Universal 3D |
RW |
Office
Format |
Full Name |
Support |
DOCX |
Office Open XML Word Format |
R |
DOC |
Microsoft Office Word 97-2003 Format |
R |
DOCM |
Office Open Word XML Macro-enabled Format. |
R |
DOTX |
Office Open Word 2007 or newer template file type. |
R |
DOTM |
Office Open Word 2007 or newer Macro-enabled template file type. |
R |
PPTX |
Office Open XML PowerPoint Format |
R |
PPT |
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 97-2003 Format |
R |
PPTM |
Office Open PowerPoint XML Macro-enabled Format. |
R |
POTX |
Office Open PowerPoint template file type. |
R |
POTM |
Office Open PowerPoint Macro-enabled template file type. |
R |
PPSX |
Office Open PowerPoint Slide Show Format. |
R |
PPSM |
Office Open PowerPoint Macro-enabled Slide Show Format. |
R |
XLSX |
Office Open XML Excel Format |
R |
XLS |
Microsoft Office Excel 97-2003 Format |
R |
XLSM |
Office Open Excel XML Macro-enabled Format. |
R |
XLTX |
Office Open Spreadsheet template file type. |
R |
XLTM |
Office Open XML Macro-enabled template file type. |
R |
Barcode
Detailed information about using Barcodes is in the Barcodes section.
Compressions
Format |
Full Name |
Formats Supported |
ASCII Compression |
American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
PBM, PGM, PNM, PPM |
CCITT Group 3 Compression |
CCITT Group 3 |
BTR, IBM IOCA, IBM MO:DCA, IMT, LV, NCR, PDF, PS, TIFF |
CCITT Group 3 2D Compression |
CCITT Group 3 2D |
BTR, IBM IOCA, IBM MO:DCA, Adobe PDF, PS, TIFF |
CCITT Group 4 Compression |
CCITT Group 4 |
CAL, IMR, KFX, BTR, IBM IOCA, IBM MO:DCA, IMT, LV, NCR, Adobe PDF, PS, TIFF |
Deflate Compression |
Deflate Compression |
PDF, PS, TIFF, PNG |
HD Photo Compression |
Microsoft HD Photo |
HD Photo |
Huffman Compression |
Huffman Encoding |
NCR, PCD, TIFF, KodakRAW, NEF, PEF |
IBM MMR Compression |
IBM Modified Modified Read |
IBM IOCA, IBM MO:DCA |
JPEG Compressions
|
JPEG Compression |
|
JPEG 2000 Compression |
JPEG 2000 Wavelet Compression |
JPEG 2000, JPX, DICOM, PDF, PS |
LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) Compression |
Lempel-Zif-Welch (LZW) Compression |
GIF, PDF, PS, TIFF |
Packbits Compression |
Packed Bits Compression |
PSD, TIFF |
RAW Compression |
RAW compression (Uncompressed Binary Compression) |
PBM, PGM, PNM, PPM |
RLE Compression |
Run Length Encoding Compression |
BMP, CLP, CUT, DCX, DICOM, GEM, IFF, MSP, PCX, PDF, PS, RAS, SGI, TGA, WPG |
Encoding vs. Compressing
These two words are often used interchangeably in discussions of graphics file formats. Encoding is actually a broad term under which compression falls. For the sake of clarity, use these terms separately with the following intended meanings:
- Encoding - The manner that data is stored when uncompressed (binary, ASCII, etc.), how it is packed (e.g., 4-bit pixels may be packed at a rate of two pixels per byte), and the unique set of symbols used to represent the range of data items.
- Compressing - A "physical" rewriting of the graphics data so that it is represented by a smaller set of data.