Term of the Moment
close
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.
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
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
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.
The vector image (top) did not convert properly to the JPEG image (bottom) using the export filter of a certain drawing program. (Original image courtesy of Cedar Waxwing Design.)