What are the differences between JPEG, PNG, and GIF image formats?

What are the differences between JPEG, PNG, and GIF image formats?

JPEG is great for photos and supports millions of colors but loses some quality when compressed. PNG is lossless, supports transparency, and is ideal for graphics. GIF is limited to 256 colors and is mainly used for simple animations.

When should I use PNG instead of JPEG?

Use PNG when you need high-quality images with transparency or when you want to avoid any loss of quality, like for logos or graphics.

What about GIF? When is it best to use?

GIF is best for simple animations or short video clips with limited colors. It's widely used for memes and social media.

Can you explain the compression methods used in these formats?

JPEG uses lossy compression, which reduces file size by removing some image data. PNG uses lossless compression, preserving all image data, while GIF uses a limited color palette and lossless compression for its animations.

Are there any other image formats I should know about?

Yes, there are others like BMP, TIFF, and WebP. Each has its own strengths, like BMP for uncompressed images and WebP for modern web use with better compression.