10 Most Popular Image File Format
An image allows humans to capture and preserve moments they’ve witnessed in the world. More than just a tool for preservation, images can also record various phenomena, serving as stories passed down through generations.
This idea likely inspired humans to invent the device we now call the camera—a tool made up of lenses that capture images by reflecting light from objects.
Today, almost everyone owns this tool, with cameras now integrated into smartphones, making it easy for people to snap photos whenever they want, as long as they have enough storage space.
This convenience is a far cry from the past. Back then, photos existed solely in printed form, developed from film. These printed photos were often stored in blank albums to create a photo collection.
The modern era, shaped by digital photography, has revolutionized this format. People now rely on compact storage devices that can be accessed anytime, eliminating the need for physical albums.
But do you know which digital image formats are the most popular today? Let’s dive in as Carisinyal explores the list!
1. JPEG/JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

Almost everyone today is familiar with the JPG or JPEG image format. Currently, it is the most widely used digital image format in the world, with billions of images created in this format every single day.
The history of JPG dates back to 1972 when Nasir Ahmed, a professor at the University of New Mexico, developed the DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) algorithm for image compression.
This breakthrough caught the attention of two major standardization groups, ISO/IEC JTC 1 and ITU-T Study Group 1. Their collaboration led to the creation of the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) standard in 1992.
What makes JPG so popular is its ability to display images with 24-bit RGB true color, providing a depth of 16 million colors. This makes it ideal for capturing detailed images like landscapes and portraits.
However, JPG uses a lossy compression method, which means the image quality decreases as the file size is reduced, and vice versa. Despite this limitation, its balance of quality and file size continues to make it a favorite format for most users.
2. PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

PNG is a popular image format for graphic design and illustration, especially because it supports transparency. Unlike JPEG, PNG uses lossless compression, ensuring that image quality is preserved, although the file size tends to be larger.
PNG supports images with a 24-bit color depth (RGB) or a 32-bit color depth (RGB + Alpha), allowing for transparent backgrounds. This makes it an ideal format for logos, icons, and any images requiring transparency.
Additionally, PNG excels at retaining fine details, making it suitable for high-precision images like infographics or visuals with a lot of text.
However, the PNG format does come with its drawbacks. Larger file sizes can lead to slower loading times, particularly on websites. Moreover, PNG does not support storing multiple images in a single file, meaning it cannot be used for animations.
3. GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

GIF, short for Graphics Interchange Format, is one of the oldest image formats, introduced in 1987 by a team from the U.S. online provider CompuServe, led by Steve White.
Unlike modern formats, GIF has a limited color palette of up to 256 colors, making it unsuitable for high-quality photos or images that require rich, detailed color reproduction.
However, GIF excels in terms of its small file size and its ability to load repeating animations (loops). Therefore, it's no wonder that GIFs are popular for viral content on social media such as memes, short animations, and illustrations that don't require much detail.
4. BMP (Bitmap Image File)

BMP, short for Standard Windows Bitmap, was developed by Microsoft to enable DOS computers to display digital images (bitmaps). This format is quite versatile, allowing images to be saved with a color depth of 4, 8, 16, or 24 bits.
One of the advantages of the BMP format is its high image quality, as it does not use compression. This makes BMP files easier to edit without losing detail.
However, this format is rarely used because its size is quite large, making it unsuitable for long storage. In addition, no other devices support the BMP format by default except Windows.
5. TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)

The TIFF format, short for Tag Image File Format, has been around since 1986. Originally developed by Aldus Corporation, TIFF development was later continued by Adobe after they acquired Aldus.
One of TIFF's key advantages is its exceptional quality, especially when printed. This is why most scanners in the 80s and 90s supported this format. TIFF is also flexible, allowing additional data to be embedded, such as size information and settings data.
However, the focus on maintaining image quality comes at the cost of large file sizes. While TIFF does support compression through the Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) method, the file sizes are still much larger compared to other formats.
TIFF's ability to store multiple layers also makes it a popular choice for photographers and graphic designers who require extensive editing capabilities.
Due to its large file size and limited browser compatibility (no browsers natively support TIFF images), this format is generally not recommended for use on websites. Despite this, TIFF remains a preferred choice for high-quality image archiving and professional image editing.
6. SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)

SVG, or Scalable Vector Graphics, is a vector-based image format widely used for web graphics such as logos, icons, and illustrations. Its primary advantage lies in its ability to scale up or down without any loss of quality, making it perfect for responsive designs.
Thanks to its compact file size and scalability, SVG is highly suitable for web design and applications. Additionally, SVG files can be directly edited or modified using code, offering exceptional flexibility for dynamic interactions and animations in web development. This makes SVG a go-to format for modern, interactive, and responsive web graphics.
7. WEBP

WEBP is a modern image format developed by Google, specifically designed to optimize web performance. It combines the strengths of JPEG and PNG by offering both small file sizes and transparency support.
WEBP supports both lossy and lossless compression, making it ideal for websites aiming to balance image quality with fast loading speeds. Additionally, WEBP can handle animations like GIFs but with significantly smaller file sizes.
Google claims WEBP is 35% more efficient in storage than PNG and 64% more efficient than GIF. These savings contribute to faster website loading times, improving user experience.
These various features and advantages make WEBP increasingly popular for use in modern websites that require high loading speeds.
8. HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format)

HEIF, short for High Efficiency Image File Format, was introduced commercially in 2015 by the MPEG standardization group (Motion Pictures Experts Group).
The primary goal of HEIF is to deliver high-quality images with a significantly reduced file size, making it especially suitable for Android devices, iPhones, and modern professional cameras. MPEG asserts that HEIF images are 50% smaller than JPEGs of equivalent quality.
What sets HEIF apart is its ability to embed additional data, such as HDR metadata and location information. Moreover, HEIF supports animated images, adding to its versatility.
With its compact size and advanced features, HEIF is predicted to become the new global standard for image formats.
9. RAW

Let’s take a closer look at the eight digital image formats discussed. These formats are all bitmap image types, also known as raster images.
A bitmap consists of an arrangement of colored pixels, where each pixel represents a specific point in the image. When these pixels are combined, they create a complete image.
You could say that a bitmap image is a finished image because it has gone through a processing process, either through camera software or editing tools. In contrast, unprocessed images are referred to as raw images or RAW format.
Therefore, the size of RAW format photos is very large. There are many extensions used for RAW images, such as CIFF and DNG. RAW is often regarded as a “digital negative” because it can be modified in such a way as to achieve high-quality photographic results.
The RAW format provides maximum flexibility in terms of editing as photographers can change almost all aspects of the image without losing details such as white balance, exposure, and contrast.
10. AVIF (AV1 Image File Format)

AVIF is a relatively new image format that uses AV1-based compression technology. It offers excellent image quality with a smaller file size compared to other formats such as JPEG or PNG.
AVIF supports transparency, lossy, and lossless compression, thus making it an ideal choice for web use. AVIF also has an advantage in terms of support for HDR (High Dynamic Range), so the resulting images look more vibrant with a wider range of colors.
Well, those are some of the most popular digital image formats in use today. The variety of image formats is likely to continue to grow, given the ongoing advancements in technology.
While JPG remains the most widely used format due to its compatibility across numerous devices, newer formats like HEIF and WebP are poised to replace JPG. These emerging formats offer significant advantages that older formats lack.