Different File Types

There are many different file types out there. They are all special in their own ways. Some are more common than others. Each file type has its own strengths and weaknesses.

One of these is Adobe Illustrator Artwork (AI). It is a proprietary file format that was developed by Adobe systems. It can represent single page vector-based drawings, and uses a .ai file extension.

Another is JPEG, which stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is a very popular method lossy compression for digital photography. This means the user can choose how much quality is lost when saving or exporting an image. The maximum size is 65535x65535 pixels. JPEG is used for bitmapped images. It uses a .jpg or .jpeg file extension.

Another file type is Portable Network Graphics (PNG). It is a bitmapped image format that employs lossless data compression. It was created to improve and replace the GIF format. It uses a .png file extension.

A fourth kind of file format is Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). It describes ways to format 2-D vector graphics, both animated and still. It was developed by W3C in 1999. Its uses a .svg or .svgz file extension.

Some believe that it would be easier and simpler to have one single file format that would apply to all image file. Maybe it could be name .pic or . img. This might make saving or viewing files more easy to learn. A downside to this is that you would lose versatility, and interacting with files would become too boring, simple, and easy.

We most likely use different file formats because with only one file format, you might not be able to do everything you want with a file. Certain file formats work better in some ways, and others work well in others. If you only had one file format, it might not be able to specialize in one way.