Comparison of graphics file formats

This is a comparison of image file formats (graphics file formats). This comparison primarily features file formats for 2D images.

General

Ownership of the format and related information.

Format	Full name	Owner	based Format	File extension	MIME type	Application	Patent- free
AI	Adobe Illustrator Document	Adobe Systems		.ai	application/illustrator, application/postscript	Adobe Illustrator	No
ANI	ANI file format	Microsoft	RIFF	.ani		Microsoft Windows
ANIM		Electronic Arts and Commodore	IFF	.iff, .anim	video/x-anim
APNG	Animated Portable Network Graphics	Mozilla	PNG	.png	image/png	Gecko 1.9 and Opera	Yes
Apple Icon Image		Apple Inc.		.icns		macOS
ART		AOL		.art
ASCII art				.txt, .ansi, .text	text/vnd.ascii-art	Supported by GIMP
AutoCAD DXF	Drawing Interchange Format	Autodesk		.dxf	image/vnd.dxf
ARW	Sony Alpha RAW	Sony	TIFF	.arw
AVIF	AV1 Image File Format	Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia)	AV1	.avif	image/avif	General purpose	royalty-free
BAY	Casio RAW	Casio		.bay
BMP	raw-data unencoded or encoded bitmap	simple colour image format, far older than Microsoft; some .bmp encoding formats developed/owned by Microsoft		.bmp, .dib, .rle, .2bp (2bpp)	image/x-bmp	Used by many 2D applications.	Yes
BPG	Better Portable Graphics	Fabrice Bellard	HEVC	.bpg		General purpose	No
BSAVE	BSAVE Image			.BSV		Used by IBM PC.
CAL	CALS raster file format			.cal, .cals, .ras, .dcl
CIFF	Camera Image File Format	Canon		.crw, .ciff
CR2	Canon RAW 2	Canon	TIFF	.cr2
CDR	CorelDRAW Document	Corel Corporation		.cdr, .ccx, .cdt, .cmx	application/coreldraw	CorelDRAW	No
CD5	Chasys Draw IES Image	John Paul Chacha		.cd5		Native format for Chasys Draw IES for storing layered images and animations	No
CGM	Computer Graphics Metafile			.cgm	image/cgm	CGM files are editable using programs that support the format, such as IBM Lotus Freelance Graphics, Inkscape, etc.
CIN	Cineon			.cin	image/cineon
CPC	Cartesian Perceptual Compression	Cartesian Products, Inc.		.cpc, .cpi	image/cpi	Highly compressed raster imaging format.	No
DCS	Kodak DCS Pro RAW	Kodak		.dcs
DCR	Digital Camera Raw	Kodak	TIFF	.dcr
DDS	DirectDraw Surface	Microsoft		.dds
DNG	Digital Negative	Adobe Systems	compatible with ISO 12234-2, TIFF/EP [1]	.dng		A raw image format suitable as an archival format and as the native raw format of digital cameras [2]	Yes [3]
DICOM	Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine	National Electrical Manufacturers Association		.dcm, .dicom	application/dicom [4]	Numerous biomedical imaging applications [4] (e.g. OsiriX, XMedCon), some general bitmap graphics applications (e.g. GIMP, Photoshop)
DjVu	DjVu	AT&T Research		.djvu, .djv	image/vnd.djvu
DPX	Digital Picture eXchange file format			.dpx	image/dpx
DRF	Kodak Pro Back RAW	Kodak		.drf
Encapsulated PostScript	page description/scripting language (see PostScript)	Adobe		.epi, .eps, .eps2, .eps3, .epsf, .epsi, .ept	application/postscript	printing/publishing industry standard format
ECW	Enhanced Compressed Wavelet	ERDAS		.ecw		Wavelet image format used primarily with geo-referenced aerial and satellite imagery	No
EMF	Enhanced Metafile Format	Microsoft		.emf, .emz		Microsoft Office
EMF+	Enhanced Metafile Format Plus Extensions	Microsoft		.emf, .emz
ERF	EPSON RAW	EPSON	TIFF	.erf
Exif	Exchangeable Image File Format			.exif
EVA	Extended Vector Animation	Sharp Corporation		.eva	application/x-eva
EXR	OpenEXR	ILM		.exr	image/exr	Used in film effects for 3d rendering and hdr images.	Yes [5]
FITS	Flexible Image Transport System			.fit, .fits		Scientific (esp. astronomical) data acquisition
FLIC		Autodesk		.fli, .flc, .flx, .flh, .flt		Supported by GIMP
FLIF	Free Lossless Image Format			.flif, .flf		General-purpose, superseded by Jpeg XL	Yes
FPX	FlashPix (1.0.2)			.fpx	image/vnd.fpx
Gerber Format	The Gerber Format Specification	Ucamco	Printable ASCII	.gbr	application/vnd.gerber	Printed Circuit Board or PCB software	Yes
GIF	Graphics Interchange Format	CompuServe, Unisys (compression algorithm)		.gif, .gfa, .giff	image/gif	General purpose, popular for small animated images	Yes
HEIF	High Efficiency Image Format	Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG)		.heif, .heic	image/heif, image/heic, image/heic-sequence, image/heif-sequence	General purpose	No
HDRi			TIFF	.tif, .tiff	image/tiff
ICER		NASA Mars Rovers
ICO	ICO file format	Microsoft		.ico, .cur	image/vnd.Microsoft.icon, image/x-icon	Microsoft Windows and web browsers as favicon
ICS	Image Cytometry Standard			.ics, .ids
IGES	Initial Graphics Exchange Specification			.igs	image/iges	CAD/CAM interoperability	Yes
ILBM	InterLeaved BitMap	Electronic Arts and Commodore	IFF	.iff, .ilbm, .lbm	image/x-ilbm	Planar graphics format designed for Amiga graphics hardware.	Yes
JBIG		Joint Bi-level Image Experts Group		.jbig, .bie, .jbg
JBIG2		Joint Bi-level Image Experts Group
JNG	JPEG Network Graphics			.jng	image/x-jng		Yes
JPEG	Joint Photographic Experts Group	Joint Photographic Experts Group		.jpg, .jpeg, .jpe (containers: .jif, .jfif, .jfi)	image/jpeg	General purpose	Yes
JPEG 2000	Joint Photographic Experts Group 2000	Joint Photographic Experts Group		.jp2, .j2c, .jpc, .j2k, .jpx	image/jp2	General purpose	royalty-free
JPEG-LS		Joint Photographic Experts Group		.jls
JPEG-HDR		Dolby Laboratories/BrightSide Technologies	JPEG			General purpose
JPEG XL		Joint Photographic Experts Group	PIK, FUIF (FLIF)	.jxl	image/jxl	General-purpose, lossless JPEG transcoding.	Yes
JPEG XT		Joint Photographic Experts Group				General purpose
JPEG XR / HD Photo	JPEG XR / HD Photo	Microsoft		.wdp, .hdp, .jxr	image/vnd.ms-photo	General purpose	royalty-free
KDC	Kodak DC40/DC50 RAW	Kodak	TIFF	.kdc
K25	Kodak DC25 RAW	Kodak	TIFF	.k25
Logluv TIFF		Greg Ward	TIFF			Supported by LibTIFF
MNG	Multiple-image Network Graphics		PNG	.mng	video/x-mng		Yes
NEF	Nikon RAW	Nikon	TIFF	.nef
MIFF	Magick image file format	ImageMagick Studio		.miff		ImageMagick
MRW	Minolta RAW	Minolta		.mrw
ORF	Olympus RAW	Olympus	TIFF	.orf
PAM	portable arbitrary map file format			.pam	image/x-portable-arbitrarymap		Yes
PBM	Portable Bitmap File Format		ASCII	.pbm	image/x-portable-bitmap		Yes
PCX	ZSoft PC Paintbrush File	ZSoft Corporation		.pcx, .pcc, .dcx	image/x-pcx	Dated rle packed indexed image format, used in some early 3d shooting games like Unreal Tournament as it takes up very little space and is easy to decode.	?
PDF	Portable Document Format	Adobe Systems		.pdf, .epdf	application/pdf
PEF	PENTAX RAW	PENTAX	TIFF	.pef
PGF	Progressive Graphics File	xeraina GmbH		.pgf		Photographic images, eventual replacement for JPEG.	Yes
PGM	Portable Graymap File Format		ASCII	.pgm	image/x-portable-graymap		Yes
PGML	Precision Graphics Markup Language	Adobe Systems, IBM, Netscape, Sun Microsystems					Yes
PICT	Macintosh PICT Format	Apple Inc.		.pict, .pic, .pct, .pct1, .pct2	image/pict	Metafile for Classic Mac OS, not meant for print publishing.	Likely expired
PICtor		John Bridges, Doug Wolfgram		.pic		Supported by PCPaint
PNG	Portable Network Graphics	World Wide Web Consortium		.png	image/png	General purpose	Yes
PNM	Portable Anymap File Format		ASCII	.pnm	image/x-portable-anymap		Yes
PostScript	page description/scripting language, levels 1–3	Adobe		.ps, .ps2, .ps3		printing/publishing industry standard format
PPM	Portable Pixmap File Format		ASCII	.ppm	image/x-portable-pixmap	Very easy to understand. Programs to analyze and write to this format are easily written.	Yes
PSD	Photoshop Document	Adobe Systems		.psd, .psb, .pdb, .pdd	image/vnd.adobe.photoshop [6]	Used mainly for storing image manipulation & editing data.	No
PSP	Paint Shop Pro Document	Corel Corporation		.psp, .tub, .pspimage	image/x-psp	Paint Shop Pro	?
QOI	Quite OK Image Format	Dominic Szablewski		.qoi			Yes
RAD		Gregory Ward Larson		.rad		Radiance
RAF	Fujifilm RAW	Fujifilm		.raf
RGBE		Gregory Ward Larson		.hdr	image/vnd.radiance	Radiance, most HDR imaging software
SGI	Silicon Graphics Image			.sgi, .rgb, .rgba, .bw, .int, .inta, .icon
SRF	Sony RAW File	Sony	TIFF	.srf, .sr2
SVG	Scalable Vector Graphics	World Wide Web Consortium	XML	.svg, .svgz (compressed)	image/svg+xml	Vector graphics	Yes
SWF	Shockwave Flash	Adobe Systems		.swf	application/x-shockwave-flash	Adobe Flash Player
TGA	Truevision Targa	Truevision Inc.		.tga, .tpic	image/tga	Texture format used by many 3d application.	Yes
TIFF	Tag Image File Format	Adobe Systems		.tiff, .tif	image/tiff	Document scanning and imaging format, also functions as a container.	Yes
TIFF/EP	Tag Image File Format / Electronic Photography	International Organization for Standardization	TIFF	.tiff, .tif
UFO	Ulead File for Objects			.ufo
VML	Vector Markup Language	Microsoft	XML	.htm, .html	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.vmlDrawing	Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office	Yes
WBMP	Wireless Application Protocol Bitmap Format	Open Mobile Alliance (formerly WAP Forum)		.wbmp, .wbm, .wbp	image/vnd.wap.wbmp	Used in WAP-pages	Yes
WebP	WebP image format	Google		.webp	image/webp	General purpose	royalty-free
WMF	Windows Metafile Format	Microsoft		.wmf, .wmz
XAR	Xar	Xara	Xar (graphics)	.xar	application/vnd.xara	Xara Photo & Graphic Designer	Yes
XBM	X BitMap, colour variant of original black-and-white bitmap (bmp) format			.xbm, .bm, .icon, .bitmap	image/x-xbitmap	Used by many legacy Unix applications.
XCF	XCF, name derived from eXperimental Computing Facility	The GIMP Team		.xcf, .xcfbz2 (compressed), .xcfgz (compressed)	application/x-gimp-image	GIMP
XPM	X-Pixmap			.xpm, .pm	image/x-xpm	Legacy Unix applications
X3F	SIGMA RAW	SIGMA		.x3f
Format	Full name	Owner	based Format	File extension	MIME type	Application	Patent- free

Technical details

Format	Compression algorithm	Raster/ vector	Maximum Color depth	Indexed color	Trans- parency	Meta- data	Inter- lacing	Multi-page	Anima ­ tion	Layers	Color manage-ment	Extend­- able	HDR format	CMYK
AI	Lossy and lossless	Both	8 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	—	No
AVIF	Lossy and lossless (AV1)	Raster	12 bpc	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
BMP	None, lossy (JPEG), and lossless (RLE, PNG)	Raster	16 bpc	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
BPG	Lossy and lossless (HEVC)	Raster	14 bpc	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	—	Yes	—	—
CD5	Lossless (ACSC)	Both	16 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	No
CDR	Lossy and lossless	Both	8 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	—	No
CPC	Lossy (CPC)	Raster	1	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes, via embedded dictionary	No
EPS	None and lossless (LZW, Deflate, RLE, DCT)	Both	Device specific	No	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
EXR	None and lossless (RLE, ZIP, Piz, PXR24, and B44, B44A, DWAA, DWAB)	Raster	32 bpc	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
FLIF	Lossless (MANIAC entropy coding)	Raster	16 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes, via chunks	Yes
GIF	Lossless (LZW)	Raster	255 colors	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes (GIF89a)	No	No
HD Photo / JPEG XR	Lossy and lossless (bi-orthogonal transform)	Raster	32 bpc	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
ILBM	None and lossless (RLE)	Raster	8 bpc	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes, Palette-shifting	No	No	Yes	No
JPEG	Lossy (DCT, RLE, and Huffman predictive nearest neighbor)	Raster	8 bpc	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No (see unofficial JPEG-HDR)	Yes
JPEG 2000	Lossy and lossless (DWT)	Raster	38 bpc	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	—	No	Yes
JPEG XL	Lossy and lossless (VarDCT mode, Modular mode)	Raster	32 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
KRA	None	Both	32 bpc	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ORA	Lossless	Both	16 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
PAM	None	Raster	Up to 16	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
PCX	None and lossless (RLE)	Raster	8 bpc	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
PGF	Lossy and lossless (DWT)	Raster	16 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	—	No
PICT	None, lossy (Quicktime), and lossless (RLE)	Both	8 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	No	No	No	—	No?	No
PNG	Lossless (Deflate)	Raster	16 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No (but see MNG and APNG)	No	Yes	Yes, via chunks	No, see discussion	No
PPM	None	Raster	8 ppc	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
PSD and PSB	None and lossless (RLE)	Both	32 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No?	Yes
PSP	None	Both	16 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	—	No	Yes	—	—	No
SVG	None and lossless (gzip)	Vector [a]	8 bpc	No	Yes	Yes	—	Yes (1.2 draft) [7]	Yes (SMIL/SVG)	Yes	Yes [8]	Yes, XML based	—
TGA	None, lossless (RLE), and other	Raster	32 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	—	No
TIFF	None, lossless (LZW, RLE, ZIP), and other	Both	16 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes, via tags	Yes, TIFF float	Yes
WebP	Lossy and lossless	Raster	8 bpc	No [9] [10]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
XCF	None and lossless (gzip, bzip2 and xz)	Both	32 bpc	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Format	Compression algorithm	Raster/ vector	Maximum Color depth	Indexed color	Trans-parency	Meta- data	Inter- lacing	Multi-page	Anima-tion	Layers	Color manage-ment	Extend- ­able	HDR format	CMYK

1. Supports raster data embedding with the use of Base64.

See also

• List of codecs

References

1. Adobe: DNG Specification
2. Adobe: Introducing the Digital Negative Specification: Information for manufacturers
3. Adobe Labs: CinemaDNG Archived 2012-03-07 at the Wayback Machine (last bullet point)
4. RFC 3240
5. "License". openexr.com.
6. "vnd.adobe.photoshop" . Retrieved 2010-01-28.
7. "Multiple pages (SVG 1.2)". www.w3.org.
8. "Removed: Color — SVG 2". www.w3.org.
9. "Issue 437: allow palette extraction from indexed lossless images". WebP issue tracker. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
10. "Lossless Bitstream Specification, section Color Indexing Transform". WebP official reference at Google Developers. Retrieved 1 December 2020.