As a photographer, you will shoot, save, edit, save, and, most likely, share your images. If you're wondering which file format you could or should use, or if you want to try a different format, this post is for you.

There are enough image formats in existence that your head could spin! Having choices is a good thing, but having too many options can become confusing. 

This post should make identifying which format is best for your needs. The most common file formats for still photographers will be our focus.

Important Basics First

• Original image & largest size: Save the original version of an image in the largest file size for the best quality moving forward! If you reduce or compress that original version, it will be difficult to recover those lost details later. Save it in the largest size possible.

• Utilize the highest quality setting. Yes, saving the highest quality - and the largest size - swallows up tons of space. But if you're not short for storage space, keep the maximum quality you can.

So with those two basic tips out of the way, let's move on to common types of image file formats for still photography.

Common File Formats

JPG/JPEG

The most common digital image file format available today retains decent image quality and compression and is universally compatible. They're used for photos and come graphics. Details like location, camera details, copyright can be embedded. JPEGs are best for everyday photos, websites, and online sharing.

HEIC / HEIF

This pretty new format is commonly found - but not as broadly compatible - on more recent iPhone and smartphone cameras. HEIC/HEIF is considered a better version of JPG. It efficiently compresses files to create smaller files without losing image quality.

HEIC/HEIF has built-in support for features like motion graphics. With this file format, a downside right now is that they're not widely compatible, but that is changing. While you can convert HEIC to JPEG or restrict your smartphone camera from using it, HEIC is a bit limiting. (Here are our tips for converting HEIC to JPEG here.)

TIFF / TIF

TIFF files are typically significantly larger files than JPGs, making them good as master copies that remain on your computer. They offer the maximum image quality. However, they're not the best file format for sharing or social media/website posting, given their size.

Since they accommodate metadata and layers, they're a good option for photo editing. Some variants offer a way to share multi-page black, and white text scanned documents. 8-bit and 16-bit TIFF files are commonly used, but 16-bit TIFF files offer far more colors. Keep in mind that even with ZIP compression, TIFF files are huge, and you should never use LZW compression with 16-bit TIF files. 

PNG

You're more likely to see a PNG file today than a GIF. It's the more common choice these days for web-friendly graphics and illustrations. They're a small file size, which is why you'll often see PNG for things like logos and other website graphics. Plus, they can retain transparent (alpha) backgrounds.

There's no provision for text-based metadata. The most common are 8-bit and 24-bit PNGs, with 8-bit being the most used as it offers up to 256 colors. 24-bit PNGs contain most of the same features as an 8-bit PNG but have even more colors. PNGs, unlike GIFs, are not compatible with animation.

RAW

RAW files are designed to preserve all data captured by the sensor (camera or scanner). Because they capture all the data, they are much larger files than JPGs. They aren't ideal for sharing without processing in specialized RAW processing apps.

They're a great starting point if you need a lot of data, but you'll need to process from there if you want to share the image. The other thing to note is that it's not a standardized format. Every camera manufacturer has its own proprietary RAW version. Because they often sequester part of the data into proprietary segments, it can be tricky to work with RAW, and they are very diverse. For example, Canon's RAW format is CRW, CR2, or CR3 and Nikon uses NEF or NRW as their RAW formats.

Sony uses ARW, SRF, or SR2, Fujifilm uses RAF. Adobe has developed its own RAW format known as DNG. Some RAW formats can be converted to DNG either by a standard conversion or by embedding the original RAW file inside the DNG container. However, some proprietary metadata could get lost in the conversion process.

While most medium and high-end cameras give you the option to save RAW files, not all cameras do. Most high-end cameras today also give you the option to use compression when saving a RAW file and how many bits. Note that the amount of RAW compression you get can vary significantly by individual format (camera). RAW files are best for when you need to capture maximum data to produce top image quality.

Matching Format To Usages

Camera

You have two good options for shooting images on a camera and selecting a file format: JPEG and RAW. JPEG is the easiest and most common, but RAW offers the highest image quality. So which one should you use? You'll have to decide between quality and convenience here. If you absolutely need top quality, you'll want to shoot with RAW. If you know that you'll be making a lot of post-processing edits, RAW is the better option because it has the most detail. You're less likely to lose quality. However, the easiest format to use while still producing good-quality images is JPEG. If you're using a high-end camera, it will likely give you the option of saving RAW (and some offer TIF as well).  

• Other options: Many devices today can also shoot pictures, but they will save them as a HEIC. As we said earlier in this post, it's a newer, better, smaller version of a JPEG file. However, it's still not broadly used.

Emailing Photos

JPEG is the best format for emailing photos to family or friends. It has sufficient quality for casual viewing while not using up too much storage space since it's not a large file. Pixel dimensions of around 2000 on the image's longest side are ideal for most uses, with a quality setting of about 60.

• Other options: As we said earlier in this post, HEIC has replaced JPEGs on newer smartphones. HEIC offers excellent image quality but smaller file sizes and is also good for casual file sharing and viewing.

Sharing to a Website

If you want to share images to a website, your best options are likely JPEGs or PNGs. Even better are JPG / PNG + WebP for better speed and better website optimization. However, this could - and will likely - change given ever-changing web standards.

JPEG is probably your overall best bet for good quality website images and then PNG for graphics and illustrations. If web-optimization is a concern, there are more appropriate formats, such as WebP. WebP images tend to have a smaller file size than JPG and PNG versions while maintaining equivalent image quality.

However, because WebP is not universally compatible, your website has to have both WebP versions and the original JPG or PNG version. Other potential formats include JPEG2000, JPEG XL, JPEG XR, and AVIF.

Photo Archiving

The best file format for photo archiving is TIFF, with JPG a second option. It comes down to compression and whether you need the highest, least-compressed quality possible. Likely, you won't need the absolute highest resolution to swallow up valuable storage space.

You'll have to consider what's the most important - quality or size. Our advice is to archive the original high-quality version rather than a derivative version. Using a versatile file format is critical since you want to open the image decades from now.

While file formats do change, using a highly common format (like JPEG or TIFF) is a safer bet. We suggest creating backups in a different storage place when working with archival images. If one space is corrupted, you still have a backup somewhere else. 

Using Print Lab

If you're planning on sending your images to a photo print lab, JPG and TIFF are good for printing. TIFF is the best quality for printing, but not all labs work with them. JPG is the most compatible and most commonly used format, so you won't have any problems with a lab accepting it.

We suggest sending the largest pixel dimensions, using minimal compression not lower than 80, knowing that the lab might reduce the size. 

Other Common Formats

Up until now, we've covered the most common file formats for photography. However, they're not the only formats available. Here are several other formats and their most typical usage.

• SVG: This is a vector file format used for graphics and logos on a website.

• AVIF: This is an even newer but more efficient format than WebP with similar use intent. It's intended to replace WebP, JPG, PNG, and GIF on the web.

• JPEG2000: Not as popular as JPEG; it's been around for a while. However, it's a web-friendly image format.

• GIF: It was a standard format for graphics before PNG came along. It's good for its unique support for lightweight animations on the web.

• PSD: A Photoshop format that is best for editing images on that platform.

• PDF: This was designed for document sharing, not images. However, it's often used to share pictures in a single file with multiple pages.

• DOC: Created by Microsoft for MS Word documents, it is more of a text file format but will accept images as part of it. Not an ideal way to share images.

Conclusion

We hope you've found this post helpful if you want to understand various options for image file formats. It really comes down to the first several options we listed as the most common and practical: JPEG, TIFF, RAW, and even HEIC as it gains in popularity. You can check our blog for more information on working with individual file formats.