The Difference Between GIF, JPEG and PNG

The JPEG format was created with pictures in mind. Lossless data compression is supported by both the GIF and PNG formats.

JPEG

Websites generally utilize the JPEG format to display images or realistic art with a seamless transition between colors. Sharp color contrast in text, logos, or modern art creates obvious artifacts that aren’t aesthetically pleasing. JPEGs save photographs at the greatest quality possible in terms of file size.

Also, because the JPEG format utilizes lossy compression, it loses some data every time you save a picture, resulting in a loss of visual quality. The approach is to use a lossless compression method to edit the file and only save the finished image as a JPEG.

Note: Do not enlarge JPEGs because this will result in visible compression artifacts.

GIF

In the world of web image formats, GIFs are the other original significant participant. Because GIFs only support a restricted 256 color palette, they are best suited for pictures that don’t require many colors. GIFs are commonly used in logos, banners, and sprites since they just need a few basic colors.

Because GIFs use a lossless data compression method, they may be used to resize pictures. Using GIFs for images is often a terrible idea because it necessitates the usage of dithering (a method that creates colors not available in the 256 GIF colors by overlapping different colored pixels.) When dealing with photographs with a lot of color variations, this results in a huge file size.

The transparency and motion characteristics of GIFS are two more qualities that make it popular. GIFs are the only animation format that is widely accepted, and they are still the most popular picture format for transparent images.

PNG

PNG is a relatively new file format that is currently fully supported by nearly all major browsers. PNGs compete directly with GIFs and are considered a better picture format since they take up less space and have alpha transparency channels, which provide partial transparency in addition to complete transparency in GIFs. PNGs aren’t restricted to 256 colors, either. The only significant benefit GIFs offer over PNGs is their ability to be animated.

Many designers avoid using the PNG format since it isn’t supported by many outdated browsers, including Internet Explorer 6 and lower. This is solely true for the characteristic of alpha transparency. All of the properties of GIFs, including complete transparency, are supported by the PNG in both older and newer browsers. Furthermore, most older non-IE browsers allow alpha transparency rendering, and the current version of Internet Explorer does as well.

To be honest, we believe PNGs will eventually replace GIFs because to their superior functionality, compression efficiency, and color palette.

Image courtesy – practicalecommerce.com