Web Graphics
By Patricia Grant
Graphics File Format Testing
Twelve images each saved in different file formats were tested to
determine whether they can be displayed in a web browser. The results
are reported in the table on the next slide.
Specifications of the computer used for testing images:
• Browser: Mozilla Firefox 82.0 (64-bit)
• Operating System: Windows 10
Image does not open
Image appears Image opens in stand-alone
File Format Nothing appears/
in browser viewer
Displays an icon
BMP - Windows Bitmap Yes Yes - Photos App
EPS - Encapsulated PostScript No No Nothing appears
GIF - Graphics Interchange Format Yes Yes - Photos App
JPG - Joint Photographic Experts Group Yes Yes - Photos App
PCT - Macintosh Picture No No Nothing appears
PCX - PC Paintbrush No No Nothing appears
PDF - Portable Document Format Yes Yes – Nitro Pro 9
PNG - Portable Network Graphics Yes Yes - Photos App
PSD - Photoshop Document No No Nothing appears
TGA - Truevision Targa No No Nothing appears
TIF - Tagged Image File Format No Yes - Photos App Nothing appears
WMF - Windows Metafile No No Nothing appears
Graphics File Format Selection
Based on the results of this test, I believe the safest file formats for
images on my website are GIF, JPG and PNG. These three formats are
supported by most web browsers (Kavett, 2013).
Although the BMP image displayed easily in my browser, it is not
recommended that this file format be used for web images as it is not
widely supported (MDN, n.d.).
References
Kavett, K. (2013, June 18). How to choose an image file format. [Video file] Retrieved
September 30, 2020 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17oZ0pg1xLA
MDN. (n.d.). Image file type and format guide. Retrieved September 29, 2020 from
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/Formats/Image_types