Web Graphics Format: GIF OR JPEG?

Comparison Betwwen GIF and JPEG

The widely supported web image graphic formats are GIF and JPEG. Many are confused about this type of graphics. When should GIF be used and when JPEG is a big question often arised. The easy rule to remember when making or graphic designing:

• Use GIF format with graphics that have created on computer such as horizontal rules, buttons, or animation.
• Use JPEG format when the images are scanned pictures or photographs.

GIF file can contain the maximum of 256 colors (8 bit) or less, which is good for customizing your graphic files. For example, if you create a GIF image of a red arrow, , you can customize the file to have only two colors, read and white. This means that the file is very very small because its palette contains only two colors. GIF file will yield a higher quality and smaller size image, compared to JPEG, when it is used with computer generated graphics such as icons, logos, buttons, etc. GIFs also has some special features such as animation, transparency, and interlacing.

JPEG was built to contain 24-bit (16.7+ million colors) and was developed specifically for photographic-style images. JPEG stores the information of images by keeping track of color changes. The advantage of JPEG is that it can carry a smaller file size than GIF when used in storing photographs and images with a wide variety of shading. But, it will not yield a smaller file when dealing with low color level and details like computer generated graphics.