File Formats and Compressions
This section provides detailed information about the image formats and compressions that ImageGear supports.
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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 |
| AFP |
IBM AFP |
RW |
| AFX |
Auto FX Photographic Edges |
R |
| AVI |
MS Video for Windows video clip |
R |
| BMP |
Microsoft Windows Bitmap |
RW |
| CLP |
Windows Clipboard |
RW |
| CUR |
Windows cursor |
RW |
| CUT |
Dr. Halo |
RW |
| DCRAW |
Digital camera RAW format |
R |
| DCX |
Paintbrush (Intel multi-page FAX format) |
RW |
| DICOM |
DICOM (Digital Imaging & Communication in Medicine) |
RW |
| DNG |
Digital Negative file format |
R |
| EPS |
Encapsulated PostScript File |
RW |
| EXIF-JPEG |
Exchangeable image file format (EXIF-JPEG) |
RW |
| EXIF-TIFF |
Exchangeable image file format (EXIF-TIFF) |
RW |
| GEM |
GEM Raster |
R |
| GIF |
CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) |
RW |
| Headerless Camera Raw |
Headerless Camera Raw Format |
R |
| HEIF |
High-Efficiency Image Format |
R |
| ICO |
ICO (Windows icon) |
RW |
| IFF |
Interchange File Format |
RW |
| 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 |
| MAC PICT |
Mac PICT |
RW |
| MODCA |
IBM MO:DCA (Mixed Object Document Content Architecture) |
RW |
| NCR |
NCR |
RW |
| PBM |
Portable Bitmap File Format |
RW |
| PCD |
Kodak Photo CD |
R |
| PCX |
PC Paintbrush File Format |
RW |
| PGM |
Portable Graymap File Format |
RW |
| 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 |
| QuickTime |
QT (QuickTime movie) |
R |
| RAS |
Sun Raster Data Format |
RW |
| Scitex CT |
Scitex CT |
RW |
| SGI |
Silicon Graphics Image |
RW |
| TGA |
Truevision Targa |
RW |
| TIFF |
Tagged Image File Format |
RW |
| TXT (ASCII Text) |
TXT (ASCII Text) |
R |
| WMF |
WMF (Windows Metafile Format) |
RW |
| WPG |
WordPerfect Graphics Metafile |
R |
| XPM |
X PixMap |
RW |
| XWD |
X Window Dump |
RW |
Raster Bitonal (1-Bit)
| Format |
Full Name |
Support |
| BTR |
Brooktrout |
RW |
| CAL |
CALS Raster |
RW |
| Group 3 |
Group 3 (G3) |
RW |
| Group 3 2D |
Group 3 2D |
RW |
| Group 4 |
Group 4 |
RW |
| IMR |
IMRS-Raster image |
R |
| IMT |
IMNET (Medical Image Format) |
RW |
| KFX |
Kofax Group4 image |
R |
| LV |
Lazer View format |
R |
| MAC |
MAC (Macintosh Paint) |
R |
| MSP |
MS Paint |
R |
| WBMP |
Wireless Bit-Map |
RW |
| XBM |
X BitMap |
RW |
Vector
| Format |
Full Name |
Support |
| PDF |
Adobe Portable Document Format |
RW |
| PS |
Adobe PS (Adobe PostScript) |
RW |
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, EPS, Group 3, IBM IOCA, IBM MO:DCA, IMT, LV, NCR, Adobe PDF, Adobe PS, TIFF, RAW |
| CCITT Group 3 2D Compression |
CCITT Group 3 2D |
BTR, EPS, Group 3 2D, IBM IOCA, IBM MO:DCA, Adobe PDF, Adobe PS, TIFF, RAW |
| CCITT Group 4 Compression |
CCITT Group 4 |
CAL, EPS, Group 4, IBM IOCA, IBM MO:DCA, IMR, IMT, KFX, LV, NCR, Adobe PDF, Adobe PS, TIFF, RAW |
| Deflate Compression |
Deflate Compression |
Adobe PDF, PNG, Adobe PS, TIFF |
| HEVC Compression |
High-Efficiency Video Coding |
HEIF |
| Huffman Compression |
Huffman Encoding |
NCR, PCD, TIFF |
| IBM MMR Compression |
IBM Modified Modified Read |
IBM IOCA, IBM MO:DCA |
|
JPEG Compressions
|
JPEG Compression
|
- Lossy: AFX, AVI, JPEG, DICOM, Adobe DNG, EPS, EXIF-JPEG, MAC PICT, Adobe PDF, Adobe PS, TIFF
- Lossless: DICOM, JPEG, TIFF
- Progressive: JPEG
|
| JPEG 2000 Compression |
JPEG 2000 Wavelet Compression |
JPEG 2000, JPX, DICOM, Adobe PDF, Adobe PS |
| LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) Compression |
Lempel-Zif-Welch (LZW) Compression |
GIF, Adobe PDF, Adobe PS, TIFF |
| Packbits Compression |
Packed Bits Compression |
Adobe 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, MAC, MSP, PCX, Adobe PDF, Adobe PS, RAS, SGI, TGA, WMF, 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.
