Definition: graphics formats

There is a wide variety of graphics formats in use today, and the following list contains most of them. The formats are in alphabetic order by extension name under bitmapped or vector category. Some formats appear in both categories because they can hold both raster and vector images. For a summary of camera RAW formats, see RAW image format. See graphics conversion, extension and codec examples.

 COMMON BITMAPPED FORMATS

 GIF   Graphics Interchange Format
 JPG   (JPEG) Joint Photographic Experts Group
 PNG   Portable Network Graphics
 TIF   (TIFF) Tagged Image File Format

 Newer
 WebP  Google
 AVIF  AV1 Image Format - Open Source


 COMMON VECTOR FORMATS

 AI    Adobe Illustrator
 DXF   AutoCAD
 PS    PostScript
 SVG   Scalable Vector Graphics
 WMF   Windows Metafile

 AV1   Open Source (newer)


 ALL BITMAPPED FORMATS

 3FR  Hasselblad RAW

 AG4  Access G4 document imaging
 ARI  Arriflex RAW
 ARW  Sony RAW
 ATT  AT&T Group IV
 AV1  Open Source

 BAY  Casio RAW
 BMP  Windows & OS/2
 BPG  An HEVC still format (recent/2014)
 BRK  Brooktrout fax

 CAL  CALS Group IV
 CAP  Phase One RAW
 CIT  Intergraph scanned images
 CLP  Windows Clipboard
 CMP  Photomatrix G3/G4 scanner format
 CMP  LEAD Technologies

 CPR  Knowledge Access
 CR2  Canon RAW
 CRW  Canon RAW
 CT   Scitex Continuous Tone
 CUT  Dr. Halo

 DBX  DATABEAM
 DCM  DICOM medical image
 DCR  Kodak RAW
 DCS  Kodak RAW
 DCX  Intel fax
 DNG  Adobe RAW
 DRF  Kodak RAW
 DX   Autotrol document imaging

 ED5  EDMICS (U.S. DOD)
 ED6  EDMICS (U.S. DOD)
 EIP  Phase One RAW
 ERF  Epson RAW
 EPS  Encapsulated PostScript

 FAX  Fax
 FFF  Imacon RAW
 FMV  FrameMaker
 FPX  FlashPix

 GED  Arts & Letters
 GDF  IBM GDDM format
 GIF  CompuServe
 GP4  CALS Group IV - ITU Group IV
 GX1  Show Partner
 GX2  Show Partner

 ICA  IBM IOCA (see MO:DCA)
 ICO  Windows icon
 IFF  Amiga ILBM
 IGF  Inset Systems (HiJaak)
 IMG  GEM Paint

 JFF  JPEG (JFIF)
 JPG  JPEG

 K25  Kodak RAW
 KDC  Kodak RAW
 KFX  Kofax Group IV

 LIQ  Phase One RAW
 LV   LaserView Group IV

 MAC  MacPaint
 MDC  Minolta/Agfa RAW
 MET  Mamiya RAW
 MIL  Same as GP4 extension
 MOS  Leaf RAW
 MRW  Konica Minolta RAW
 MSP  Microsoft Paint

 NEF  Nikon RAW
 NIF  Navy Image File

 ORF  Olympus RAW

 PBM  Portable bitmap
 PCD  PhotoCD
 PCX  PC Paintbrush
 PEF  Pentax RAW
 PIX  Inset Systems (HiJaak)
 PNG  Portable Network Graphics
 PNM  Unix portable bitmap
 PPM  Unix portable bitmap
 PSD  Photoshop native format
 PTX  Pentax RAW
 PXN  Logitech RAW

 RAF  Fuji RAW
 RAS  Sun
 RAW  Panasonic/Leica RAW
 RGB  SGI
 RIA  Alpharel document imaging
 RLC  Image Systems
 RLE  Various RLE-compressed formats
 RNL  GTX Runlength
 RW2  Panasonic RAW
 RWL  Leica RAW

 SBP  IBM StoryBoard
 SGI  Silicon Graphics RGB
 SR2  Sony RAW
 SRW  Samsung RAW
 SUN  Sun

 TGA  Targa
 TIF  TIFF

 WPG  WordPerfect image
 WebP Google

 XBM  X Window bitmap
 XPM  X Window pixelmap
 XWD  X Window dump


 ALL OTHER VECTOR FORMATS

 3DS  3D Studio
 906  Calcomp plotter

 AI   Adobe Illustrator

 CAL  CALS subset of CGM
 CDR  CorelDRAW
 CGM  Computer Graphics Metafile
 CH3  Harvard Graphics chart
 CLP  Windows clipboard
 CMX  Corel Metafile Exchange

 DG   Autotrol
 DGN  Intergraph drawing format
 DRW  Micrografx Designer 2.x, 3.x
 DS4  Micrografx Designer 4.x
 DSF  Micrografx Designer 6.x
 DXF  AutoCAD
 DWG  AutoCAD

 EMF  Enhanced Windows Metafile
 EPS  Encapsulated PostScript
 ESI  Esri plot file (GIS mapping)

 FMV  FrameMaker

 GCA  IBM GOCA
 GEM  GEM proprietary
 G4   GTX RasterCAD - scanned images 
       into vectors for AutoCAD

 HPGL HP graphics language

 IGF  Inset Systems (HiJaak)
 IGS  IGES

 MCS  MathCAD
 MET  OS/2 metafile
 MRK  Informative Graphics markup file

 P10  Tektronix plotter (PLOT10)
 PCL  HP LaserJet
 PCT  Mac PICT drawings
 PDW  HiJaak
 PGL  HP plotter
 PIC  Variety of picture formats
 PIX  Inset Systems (HiJaak)
 PLT  HPGL Plot File
 PS   PostScript Level 2

 RIS  AUCOTEC CAD format
 RLC  Image Systems "CAD Overlay ESP"
       vector files overlaid onto raster

 SSK  SmartSketch
 SVG  Scalable vector graphics (XML)

 WEBM Google
 WMF  Windows Metafile
 WPG  WordPerfect graphics
 WRL  VRML

Graphics Conversions Are Problematic
It takes years to perfect graphics conversion algorithms, especially when switching between vector and raster formats. Just because an application imports or exports a particular format does not mean it does so 100% perfectly. If exact replication is required, be sure to test the application's import/export filters.




Original Vector Image to JPEG Equivalent