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Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | com.adobe.encapsulated-postscript |
Type of format | Vector image format |
Extended from | PostScript |
Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is a Document Structuring Convention (DSC) conforming PostScript document format usable as a graphics file format. The format was developed as early as 1987 by John Warnock and Chuck Geschke, the founders of Adobe, together with Aldus. [1] The basis of early versions of the Adobe Illustrator Artwork file format is formed by EPS together with the DSC Open Structuring Conventions.
In short, EPS files are self-contained, reasonably predictable PostScript documents that describe an image or drawing and can be placed within another PostScript document. An EPS file is essentially a PostScript program, saved as a single file that includes a low-resolution preview "encapsulated" within it, allowing some programs to display a preview on the screen. An EPS file contains a DSC comment describing the rectangle containing the image. Applications can use this information to lay out the page, even if they are unable to directly render the PostScript inside.
EPS files frequently include a preview picture of the content for on-screen display. The idea is to allow a simple preview of the final output in any application that can draw a bitmap. Without this preview, the applications would have to directly render the PostScript (PS) data inside the EPS, which was beyond the capabilities of most machines that used PostScript.
When EPS was first implemented, the only machines widely using PostScript were Apple Macintoshes. These machines could not directly render the PostScript, which presented Adobe with the dilemma of how to provide a preview image for the designer while also including the PS version for the printer. On the Mac this turned out to be easy to solve, as the Mac file system includes two parts (known as forks) that are logically referred to as one file. By placing the PostScript in the data fork and a standard Mac PICT resource in the resource fork, both images could be moved about together invisibly as if they were one file. While a PICT preview often contains a bitmap, it could also contain a vector representation of the whole image, providing very high quality previews.
Neither of these technologies is commonly used on any other operating system, however. When faced with the same problems on Microsoft Windows-based versions of their programs, Adobe chose to instead add a TIFF file encoded into the header section of the PostScript. Sometimes, although more rarely, they used the Windows Metafile (WMF) format instead. WMF has the potential to provide vector previews, similar to PICT on the Mac. Both of these PC format EPS files have a particular disadvantage: because the PostScript data, header, and preview are all in the same file, they will cause printing errors if a program does not understand the format well enough to extract only the PostScript data.
A fourth format known as a EPSI includes an ASCII-encoded preview bitmap. This format provides only black-and-white previews. It is mainly used on Unix-like systems. With several different ways of representing the preview, EPSI files have limited portability. An application that is unable to interpret an EPS file's preview will typically show an empty box on screen, but it will be able to print the file correctly. The most widely supported kind of preview is a Windows format preview with a TIFF.
Due to the ability to use embedded scripts, Microsoft removed support for EPS files in Microsoft Office programs in May 2018. [2] [3] [4]
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Based on the PostScript language, each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, vector graphics, raster images and other information needed to display it. PDF has its roots in "The Camelot Project" initiated by Adobe co-founder John Warnock in 1991. PDF was standardized as ISO 32000 in 2008. The last edition as ISO 32000-2:2020 was published in December 2020.
TrueType is an outline font standard developed by Apple in the late 1980s as a competitor to Adobe's Type 1 fonts used in PostScript. It has become the most common format for fonts on the classic Mac OS, macOS, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.
Windows Metafile (WMF) is an image file format originally designed for Microsoft Windows in the 1990s. The original Windows Metafile format was not device-independent and may contain both vector graphics and bitmap components. It acts in a similar manner to SVG files. WMF files were later superseded by Enhanced Metafiles which did provide for device-independence. EMF files were then themselves enhanced via EMF+ files.
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design software developed and marketed by Adobe. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud, Illustrator CC was released. The latest version, Illustrator 2025, was released on October 14, 2024, and is the 29th generation in the product line. Adobe Illustrator was reviewed as the best vector graphics editing program in 2021 by hpMagazine.
Preview is the built-in image viewer and PDF viewer of the macOS operating system. In addition to viewing and printing digital images and Portable Document Format (PDF) files, it can also edit these media types. It employs the Aqua graphical user interface, the Quartz graphics layer, and the ImageIO and Core Image frameworks.
PICT is a graphics file format introduced on the original Apple Macintosh computer as its standard metafile format. It allows the interchange of graphics, and some limited text support, between Mac applications, and was the native graphics format of QuickDraw.
Transparency in computer graphics is possible in a number of file formats. The term "transparency" is used in various ways by different people, but at its simplest there is "full transparency" i.e. something that is completely invisible. Only part of a graphic should be fully transparent, or there would be nothing to see. More complex is "partial transparency" or "translucency" where the effect is achieved that a graphic is partially transparent in the same way as colored glass. Since ultimately a printed page or computer or television screen can only be one color at a point, partial transparency is always simulated at some level by mixing colors. There are many different ways to mix colors, so in some cases transparency is ambiguous.
Document Structuring Conventions (DSC) is a set of standards for PostScript, based on the use of comments, that specifies a way to structure a PostScript file and a way to expose that structure in a machine-readable way. A PostScript file that conforms to DSC is called a conforming document.
Clip art is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is created, distributed, and used in a digital form. Since its inception, clip art has evolved to include a wide variety of content, file formats, illustration styles, and licensing restrictions. It is generally composed exclusively of illustrations, and does not include stock photography.
A computer font is implemented as a digital data file containing a set of graphically related glyphs. A computer font is designed and created using a font editor. A computer font specifically designed for the computer screen, and not for printing, is a screen font.
A container format or metafile is a file format that allows multiple data streams to be embedded into a single file, usually along with metadata for identifying and further detailing those streams. Notable examples of container formats include archive files and formats used for multimedia playback. Among the earliest cross-platform container formats were Distinguished Encoding Rules and the 1985 Interchange File Format.
Microsoft PhotoDraw is a discontinued vector graphics and raster image editing software developed by Microsoft. It was released in 1999 as part of the Microsoft Office 2000 family of products and was specifically designed for creating and editing graphics, illustrations, and photo compositions.
A number of vector graphics editors exist for various platforms. Potential users of these editors will make a comparison of vector graphics editors based on factors such as the availability for the user's platform, the software license, the feature set, the merits of the user interface (UI) and the focus of the program. Some programs are more suitable for artistic work while others are better for technical drawings. Another important factor is the application's support of various vector and bitmap image formats for import and export.
An image file format is a file format for a digital image. There are many formats that can be used, such as JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Most formats up until 2022 were for storing 2D images, not 3D ones. The data stored in an image file format may be compressed or uncompressed. If the data is compressed, it may be done so using lossy compression or lossless compression. For graphic design applications, vector formats are often used. Some image file formats support transparency.
Adobe Streamline is a discontinued line tracing program developed and published by Adobe Systems. Its primary purpose is to convert scanned bitmaps into vector artwork. Streamline is similar in function to competitors, such as Corel Trace, but was advertised as a standalone rather than an additional utility within a full drawing suite. Streamline was discontinued after Adobe Illustrator CS2 introduced a new tracing tool entitled Live Trace, which provides fast tracing, fine control, as well as a "live link" to the bitmap being traced. A test of the native Illustrator 9 auto-trace function by Creative Pro in 2002 concluded: "The premier tracing utility is StreamLine, which is infinitely controllable and very accurate."
Poppler is a free and open-source software library for rendering Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. Its development is supported by freedesktop.org. Commonly used on Linux systems, it powers the PDF viewers of the GNOME and KDE desktop environments.
sK1 is an open-source, cross-platform illustration program that seeks to be a substitute for professional proprietary software like CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator. Unique project features are CorelDRAW formats importers, tabbed multiple document interface, Cairo-based engine, and color management.