A Complete Guide to Image Formats and When to Use Them
When I first started out in graphic design, I’ll admit something slightly embarrassing – I thought a JPG was just “a picture file” and a PNG was the same thing, only with a transparent background and that was the end of the story. No big deal, right? As long as it opened and looked fine, I figured it was job done. Over time, though, I realised that knowing your image formats is not just a technical detail – it’s a crucial part of working professionally. Use the wrong one and you could end up with blurry graphics, unnecessarily large files, or, worst of all, a client ringing you up to ask why their shiny new logo looks like it’s been dragged through a hedge backwards.
This guide will walk you through the most common image formats, what each one does, and exactly when you should (and shouldn’t) be using them.
JPG (or JPEG)
JPGs are by far the most familiar format to the average person, and with good reason. They’re excellent for compressing images down to a small file size without losing too much visible quality, which is why they’re so widely used on websites and in email campaigns. JPGs are especially good for photographs and images with lots of colours or gradients, because the compression handles them fairly well.
That said, the compression is “lossy,” which means every time you save over the file you lose a little bit of quality – and once it’s gone, it’s gone. JPGs also don’t support transparency, so you can’t have floating logos or graphics that blend seamlessly into a background. In short, they’re ideal for social media posts, blog photos, and any situation where a smaller file size is more important than pixel-perfect sharpness.
PNG
When it comes to crisp graphics, especially those that need a transparent background, PNG is the go-to format. Unlike JPG, PNG is a lossless format, meaning it retains all the original image quality without introducing compression artefacts. This makes it perfect for logos, icons, and any design work that demands clean edges and fine detail.
The downside? PNG files tend to be larger than JPGs, so they’re not always the best choice for huge images or for web pages where speed is essential. However, if you’re creating a transparent logo for a client’s website or producing high-quality graphics for digital use, PNG is almost always the better option.
GIF
Most people know GIFs as the looping animations that dominate social media, but the format actually predates internet memes by decades. GIFs are great for simple animations or static graphics with a very limited colour palette – up to 256 colours in total. They can also handle transparency, although not as smoothly as PNG.
Because of the colour limit, GIFs are not suited for photographs or anything with a lot of colour variation. They shine in situations where you need a small, looping animation for a website or a playful element on social media. Think moving icons, short logo animations, or fun, shareable clips.
SVG
SVG, which stands for Scalable Vector Graphics, is the designer’s best friend when it comes to creating visuals that can be resized infinitely without losing sharpness. Because they’re vector-based rather than pixel-based, SVG files stay perfectly crisp whether they’re displayed on a tiny smartphone screen or blown up for a billboard.
SVGs are perfect for logos, icons, and simple illustrations that need to be responsive and adaptable. They’re also incredibly lightweight in terms of file size, which makes them great for the web. The main limitation is that they’re not designed for complex images like photographs, and some older email clients and browsers don’t support them fully. But for web-based brand assets, they’re hard to beat.
In the print world, PDF is king. It’s the universal standard for delivering final designs because it preserves fonts, colours, layouts, and images exactly as you created them. A PDF sent to a client or a printer should look identical on their screen to how it looks on yours, which means no nasty surprises when the job comes back from print.
PDFs are also great for multi-page documents such as brochures, catalogues, and presentations. The main drawback is that they’re not especially web-friendly, and large PDFs can be a pain to send via email without compression. But for print work and client-ready proofs, they’re absolutely essential.
TIFF
TIFF files are the heavyweight champions of image quality. They’re most often used in high-end print production and for archiving important images because they can store incredibly detailed, lossless images. TIFFs can also preserve layers and transparency, making them ideal for professional design workflows.
The trade-off is file size – TIFFs can be enormous, which makes them impractical for web use. They’re also overkill for everyday projects. But if you’re sending a magazine spread to print or producing a large-format poster where every detail counts, TIFF is the right choice.
Quick Format Summary
JPG is best for photos where small file size matters. PNG works beautifully for sharp graphics with transparency. GIF is for simple animations. SVG gives you infinitely scalable logos and icons. PDF locks in layouts for print, while TIFF is reserved for the highest-quality print work.
Final Thoughts
Understanding image formats isn’t just a dry, technical detail – it’s one of those subtle skills that sets a professional designer apart. Sending the correct file type for the job doesn’t just make you look organised; it shows clients you understand their needs and can deliver work that functions exactly as intended.
Once you’ve got a handle on this, you’ll never again send a pixelated logo to print or upload a gigantic PNG that slows a website to a crawl. Instead, you’ll be able to confidently choose the right format every time, knowing it will look perfect wherever it ends up.
If you like, I can now design a matching infographic “cheat sheet” for this article so you’ve got a visual asset to share alongside it on Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn. It’ll make the post far more eye-catching. Would you like me to prepare that next?
