Table: Common Image File Formats

[1] Though the TIFF 6.0 specification provides for 64-bit color, many TIFF readers support a maximum of 24-bit color.

[2] LZW is patented and its use in software development may require licensing and royalty payments: Unisys, “License Information on GIF and Other LZW-based Technologies,” LZW Patent and Software Information.

[3] The original JPEG specification included a lossless mode, but most JPEG applications never supported it. Some files referred to as lossless JPEGs are really non-JPEG compressed files in a JFIF wrapper. There is a new specification for lossless JPEG (JPEG-LS) but it has not been finalized. ISO SC29/WG1, “JPEG - Information Links.”

[4] Visually lossless refers to compression techniques that are themselves lossy, but that take advantage of characteristics of human sight to create an image that is virtually indistinguishable from its uncompressed form.

[5] JFIF was released into the public domain by C-Cube Microsystems. The “official” file format for JPEG files is SPIFF (Still Picture Interchange File Format), but by the time it was released, JFIF had already achieved wide acceptance. SPIFF, which has the ISO designation 10918-3, offers more versatile compression, color management, and metadata capacity than JPEG/JFIF, but it has little support. It may be superseded by JPEG 2000/DIG 2000: ISO SC29/WG1, JPEG - Information Links. Digital Imaging Group, “JPEG 2000 and the DIG: The Picture of Compatibility.”

[6] Approved by W3C to replace GIF for Web use.

[7] Adobe has released enough information to allow developers to write applications that read and modify PDF files. However, pdf files are most commonly created and accessed using Adobe's own Acrobat software.

[8] Similar to CIE Lab, YC_bC_r is composed of three channels: one for luminance (Y) and two for chrominance (CC).

[9] Others are supported in the file format extensions defined in ISO/IEC 15444-2 (JPX file format).

[10] NIF RGB is defined identically to sRGB in the Flashpix 1.0.2 specification. The next revision of the Flashpix specification may move to sRGB.

[11] The JP2 file format also specifies a flexible means to add substantial metadata, either as binary data or in XML. However, this data is considered optional, and baseline JP2 readers are not required to read it.

[12] The TIFF 6.0 specification calls for the ability to store multiple TIFF images in a single file, but not all TIFF readers support this feature.

[13] Some early versions of Internet Explorer may not display progressive JPEGs properly.

Name and Current Version	TIFF 6.0 (Tagged Image File Format)	GIF 89a (Graphics Interchange Format)	JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group)/JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format)	JP2-JPX/ JPEG 2000	Flashpix 1.0.2	ImagePac, Photo CD	PNG 1.2 (Portable Network Graphics)	PDF 1.4 (Portable Document Format)
Extension(s)	.tif, .tiff	.gif	.jpeg, jpg, .jif, .jfif	.jp2, .jpx, .j2k, .j2c	.fpx	.pcd	.png	.pdf
Bit-depth(s)	1-bit bitonal; 4- or 8-bit grayscale or palette color; up to 64-bit color[1]	1-8 bit bitonal, grayscale, or color	8-bit grayscale; 24-bit color	supports up to 2¹⁴ channels, each with 1-38 bits; gray or color	8-bit grayscale; 24 bit color	24-bit color	1-48-bit; 1/2/4/8-bit palette color or grayscale, 16-bit grayscale, 24/48-bit truecolor	4-bit grayscale; 8-bit color; up to 64-bit color support
Compression	Uncompressed Lossless: ITU-T.6, LZW, etc. Lossy: JPEG	Lossless: LZW[2]	Lossy: JPEG Lossless:[3]	Uncompressed Lossless/Lossy: Wavelet	Uncompressed Lossy: JPEG	Lossy: “Visually lossless” Kodak proprietary format[4]	Lossless: Deflate, an LZ77 derivative	Uncompressed Lossless: ITU-T.6, LZW. JBIG Lossy: JPEG
Standard/ Proprietary	De facto standard	De facto standard	JPEG: ISO 10918-1/2 JFIF: de facto standard[5]	ISO/IEC 15444 parts 1-6, 8-11	Publicly available specification	Proprietary	ISO 15948 (anticipated)[6]	De facto standard[7]
Color Mgmt.	RGB, Palette, YC_bC_r,[8] CMYK, CIE Lab*	Palette	YC_bC_r	Palette, YC_bC_r, RGB, sRGB, some ICC[9]	PhotoYCC and NIF RGB,[10] ICC (optional)	PhotoYCC	Palette, sRGB, ICC	RGB, YC_bC_r, CMYK
Web Support	Plug-in or external application	Native since Microsoft® Internet Explorer 3, Netscape Navigator® 2	Native since Microsoft® Internet Explorer 2, Netscape Navigator® 2	Plug-in	Plug-in	Java™ applet or external application	Native since Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4, Netscape® Navigator 4.04, (but still incomplete)	Plug-in or external application
Metadata Support	Basic set of labeled tags	Free-text comment field	Free-text comment field	Basic set of labeled tags[11]	Extensive set of labeled tags	Through external databases; no inherent metadata	Basic set of labeled tags plus user-defined tags.	Basic set of labeled tags
Comments	Supports multiple images/file[12]	May be replaced by PNG; interlacing and transparency support by most Web browsers	Progressive JPEG widely supported by Web browsers[13]	Multiple resolutions, progressive display, tiling, region of interest coding and many other advanced features	Provides multiple resolutions of each image; wide industry support, but limited current applications	Provides 5 or 6 different resolutions of each image; unclear future	May replace GIF, though market penetration has been spotty	Preferred for printing and viewing multipage documents; strong government use
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