PrintIntroduction
This document will help provide information about many different graphic file types, such as, bmp, jpg, tif, gif, png and others. A variety of file formats are available in the Save As
dialog box in most applications. Choose the file type based on:
- How or where the file, image, or picture will be used. Is the picture going to be used on a Web page? See Table 1 below for the best match.
- What is the file, image, or picture going to look like? Is the scan going to be in color, black and white, grayscale or maybe a page with pictures and text combined? See Table 2 below for the best match.
- Is the image a photo or a drawing? A photo contains millions of colors while a drawing may only contain a few colors. The JPG format will only save an image that is true color and the GIF format will only save an image that is in 256 color.
Scanning images for use on the World Wide Web is different that scanning images for printing. This document discusses techniques and file formats that give the best results for different applications, including images scanned for use on the World Wide Web.
NOTE: Determine which file type is supported by the program being used. Then pick an appropriate file type to save the image as.
| File format | Use for: | Do not use for: |
|---|---|---|
| .bmp | Windows programs | Macintosh programs Web pages |
| .tif or .tif compressed | printing programs on any platform | Web pages |
| .jpg | printing programs on any platform Web pages | |
| .htm | Web pages | printing |
| .gif | Web pages | printing |
| .fpx | printing programs on any platform | Web pages |
| .pcx | Windows programs | Macintosh programs Web pages |
| Web pages | ||
| .txt | text editor programs | graphics editor programs Web pages |
| .rtf | text editor programs | Web pages |
| .wmf | Windows programs |
NOTE: Not all file types are available for all output types.
This table lists which output types can be used with each file type.
| File format | Use with output types: | Do not use with output types: |
|---|---|---|
| .bmp or .tif or .tif compressed | True Color Grayscale, 256 Color, Black & White Bitmap (raster) | Black & White Scalable (vector) & Text |
| .fpx or .jpg | True Color Grayscale (Set at 'best') | Black & White Scalable (scalable), 256 Color, Text, Black & White Bitmap (raster) |
| .gif | 256 Color, Grayscale, Black & White Bitmap (raster), (set at 'good') | True Color, Text, Black & White Scalable (vector) |
| .htm | Text & Image | Vector |
| .pcx | True Color, Grayscale, 256 Color, Black & White Bitmap (raster) | Black & White Scalable (vector) |
| .txt | Text | True Color Grayscale, 256 Color, Black & White Bitmap (raster), Black & White Scalable (vector) |
| .rtf | Use Text & Image in the Output Type menu | |
| .wmf | Black & White Scalable (vector) | True Color Grayscale, 256 Color, Black & White Bitmap (raster), Text |
NOTE: The program that the image is being sent to may default to the first file type (alphabetically) that the program supports, or may not support all file types. There are a number of quick converters to change file types without opening and re-saving (Save As) the file.
You want to use a photo in a Web page, but you cannot make it look good onscreen
Select Image File
as the destination in the Where do you want the scan to go
list, then save the file using the GIF, JPG, or FPX file format. Set the resolution from 72 to 75 dpi. Resolutions higher than 75 dpi do not improve the appearance of a scan displayed on a computer monitor.
Using Normal Color Photograph Output Type (256 colors) instead of the Best Color Photograph (true color or millions of colors) to reduce the number of colors in the scan. This creates a smaller file size, which will load more quickly. GIF files will only use 256 colors or less while JPG files will only use true color.
You can open the file in an image editor to make any necessary changes. Finally, import the file into a Web editor to create an HTML page.
