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AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a modern image format based on the AV1 video codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media. It delivers superior compression efficiency compared to JPEG and PNG, often reducing file sizes by 50% or more while maintaining excellent visual quality. AVIF supports HDR, wide color gamut, and transparency, making it an ideal choice for the modern web.

BMP (Bitmap) is one of the oldest raster image formats, developed by Microsoft for the Windows operating system. It stores pixel data in an uncompressed or minimally compressed form, resulting in large file sizes but perfect lossless quality. BMP is widely supported across Windows applications and is commonly used as an intermediate format in image processing workflows.

CUR is the Windows cursor file format used to store static mouse cursor images for the operating system. It shares the same internal structure as the ICO format and supports multiple sizes and color depths within a single file. CUR files define the appearance of mouse pointers in Windows applications and throughout the OS shell.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is one of the most recognized image formats on the internet, developed by CompuServe in 1987. It supports up to 256 colors per frame and lossless LZW compression, and is famous for its animation capability, making it ideal for simple looping clips and reaction images. GIF remains enormously popular for sharing short animations and memes across social media and messaging platforms.

ICO is the Windows icon file format used to display icons for applications, files, folders, and shortcuts in the operating system. It can contain multiple image sizes and color depths within a single file, ensuring icons look sharp at different display scales and DPI settings. ICO files are also used as website favicons — the small icon displayed in browser tabs, bookmarks, and address bars.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is the most widely used lossy image compression format in the world, designed for compressing natural photographic images. It achieves high compression ratios by discarding visual detail that the human eye is less sensitive to, typically reducing file sizes by 10× or more. JPEG is universally supported across every device and application, and remains the standard format for digital photography and web images.

JPG is the most common file extension for the JPEG image format, which uses lossy compression to significantly reduce file sizes while maintaining visually acceptable quality. Every digital camera, smartphone, and web browser supports JPG natively, making it the dominant format for sharing photographs worldwide. Its excellent balance between file size and image quality has kept it the most-used image format for decades.

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a widely-used lossless raster image format created as an open, patent-free alternative to GIF. It supports 24-bit color, full 8-bit alpha channel transparency, and highly efficient lossless compression. PNG is the preferred format for images with sharp edges, text overlays, logos, and any content where pixel-perfect lossless quality is essential, and it is universally supported in every browser and application.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML-based vector image format maintained by the W3C as an open web standard. Unlike raster formats, SVG images are mathematically defined and scale infinitely without any quality loss, and can be styled and animated with CSS and JavaScript directly in browsers. SVG is the definitive format for logos, icons, illustrations, and data visualizations that must look crisp across every screen size and resolution.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a flexible, high-quality raster image format widely used in professional photography, desktop publishing, scanning, and archival imaging. It supports lossless compression, multiple color spaces (RGB, CMYK, LAB), multi-page documents, and can embed multiple images within a single file. TIFF is the standard format for scanned documents, medical imaging, and any workflow that demands the highest possible image fidelity.

APNG (Animated Portable Network Graphics) is an extension of the PNG format that supports frame-by-frame animation, created as a superior alternative to GIF. It offers full 24-bit color and 8-bit alpha transparency per frame, producing smooth, high-quality animations. APNG files are widely supported in modern browsers and are ideal for animated icons, stickers, and lightweight web animations.

AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a modern image format based on the AV1 video codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media. It delivers superior compression efficiency compared to JPEG and PNG, often reducing file sizes by 50% or more while maintaining excellent visual quality. AVIF supports HDR, wide color gamut, and transparency, making it an ideal choice for the modern web.

BLP is a proprietary texture format developed by Blizzard Entertainment, used primarily in games such as World of Warcraft and StarCraft II. It supports various GPU-friendly compression modes optimized for real-time rendering in game engines. BLP files can store mipmaps and are typically not used outside of Blizzard's gaming ecosystem.

BMP (Bitmap) is one of the oldest raster image formats, developed by Microsoft for the Windows operating system. It stores pixel data in an uncompressed or minimally compressed form, resulting in large file sizes but perfect lossless quality. BMP is widely supported across Windows applications and is commonly used as an intermediate format in image processing workflows.

CUR is the Windows cursor file format used to store static mouse cursor images for the operating system. It shares the same internal structure as the ICO format and supports multiple sizes and color depths within a single file. CUR files define the appearance of mouse pointers in Windows applications and throughout the OS shell.

DCX is a multi-page extension of the PCX image format, originally developed to support fax transmission of multiple pages within a single file. Each page is stored as a separate PCX image inside the DCX container. DCX was popular in the early 1990s for storing scanned fax documents but has since been largely superseded by formats like PDF and TIFF.

DDS (DirectDraw Surface) is a raster image format developed by Microsoft for use with Direct3D and DirectX applications. It supports GPU-native texture compression formats such as DXT/BC, mipmaps, and cube maps, making it ideal for 3D game textures and real-time environments. DDS files can be loaded directly by the GPU without decompression, enabling fast real-time rendering in games and interactive applications.

DIB (Device Independent Bitmap) is a variant of the BMP format designed to ensure consistent rendering across different display devices and color depths. Unlike the older device-dependent bitmap, DIB includes a color table and stores image data in a device-agnostic way. It is primarily used internally by Windows GDI (Graphics Device Interface) for drawing and printing operations.

EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) is a vector graphics file format based on Adobe's PostScript page description language. It can contain both vector graphics and embedded raster images, making it a staple in professional publishing and print workflows. EPS files are resolution-independent and are widely supported by design applications such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW.

FLI is an early animation format created by Autodesk for their Animator software in the late 1980s. It stores frame-by-frame animation data using delta compression, recording only the pixels that change between frames to reduce file size. FLI was popular for creating simple animations on DOS-based systems but is rarely used in modern workflows.

FLC is an improved version of the FLI animation format, also developed by Autodesk for their Animator Pro software. It supports larger frame sizes and better compression than the original FLI format. Like FLI, FLC files store animations as sequences of difference frames and were widely used in early multimedia applications and DOS-era games.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is one of the most recognized image formats on the internet, developed by CompuServe in 1987. It supports up to 256 colors per frame and lossless LZW compression, and is famous for its animation capability, making it ideal for simple looping clips and reaction images. GIF remains enormously popular for sharing short animations and memes across social media and messaging platforms.

HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is Apple's default image format for iPhone and iPad cameras, based on the HEVC video codec developed by MPEG. It delivers significantly better compression than JPEG while maintaining comparable or higher visual quality, typically halving file sizes at equivalent quality. HEIC supports multiple images, depth maps, thumbnail previews, and metadata within a single file.

HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format) is the generic container format developed by MPEG from which HEIC (using HEVC encoding) is derived. It supports image sequences, live photos, multi-frame images, and audio tracks within a single container, with superior compression compared to JPEG. HEIF is used across Apple, Samsung, and other platforms as a modern alternative to older image container formats.

ICNS is Apple's icon format used on macOS and iOS to store application icons at multiple resolutions within a single file. A single ICNS file can contain icons ranging from 16×16 to 1024×1024 pixels, including Retina (2×) variants for high-DPI displays. ICNS files ensure that application icons look sharp at any display size and are required for app distribution in the Apple ecosystem.

ICO is the Windows icon file format used to display icons for applications, files, folders, and shortcuts in the operating system. It can contain multiple image sizes and color depths within a single file, ensuring icons look sharp at different display scales and DPI settings. ICO files are also used as website favicons — the small icon displayed in browser tabs, bookmarks, and address bars.

JP2 (JPEG 2000) is an advanced image compression standard developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group as a next-generation successor to JPEG. It uses wavelet-based compression to achieve significantly better quality at similar file sizes, and supports both lossy and lossless compression in the same format. JP2 is widely used in archival imaging, medical photography, and cinema digital intermediate workflows.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is the most widely used lossy image compression format in the world, designed for compressing natural photographic images. It achieves high compression ratios by discarding visual detail that the human eye is less sensitive to, typically reducing file sizes by 10× or more. JPEG is universally supported across every device and application, and remains the standard format for digital photography and web images.

JPG is the most common file extension for the JPEG image format, which uses lossy compression to significantly reduce file sizes while maintaining visually acceptable quality. Every digital camera, smartphone, and web browser supports JPG natively, making it the dominant format for sharing photographs worldwide. Its excellent balance between file size and image quality has kept it the most-used image format for decades.

JPEG XL (JXL) is a next-generation image codec designed as a long-term replacement for JPEG, PNG, and GIF. It offers significantly better compression than JPEG (often 60% smaller at equivalent quality), supports lossless compression, animation, and HDR color. A unique feature of JPEG XL is its ability to losslessly re-encode existing JPEG files, saving storage space without any quality degradation.

MPO (Multi-Picture Object) is an image format used by stereoscopic 3D cameras, particularly those from Fujifilm and the Nintendo 3DS, to store two slightly offset perspectives of the same scene. The format pairs a standard JPEG with a secondary JPEG representing the other eye's viewpoint. MPO files can be displayed as regular 2D photos or experienced in 3D on compatible displays and hardware.

MSP is the proprietary bitmap image format used by Microsoft Paint in the early Windows 1.x and 2.x era. It stores only monochrome (black and white) images in a simple uncompressed binary format without any metadata or color information. MSP is a historical format not supported by modern applications, but files can be converted to preserve content from very old PC collections.

PBM (Portable Bitmap) is part of the Netpbm family of simple image formats designed for easy cross-platform transfer without compatibility issues. It stores monochrome black-and-white images in either plain-text or binary format with minimal overhead or proprietary encoding. PBM is widely used in Unix-like systems and forms the foundation of image processing pipelines and academic computer vision tooling.

PCX (PiCture eXchange) is one of the earliest raster image formats, developed by ZSoft Corporation for PC Paintbrush software in 1985. It uses run-length encoding (RLE) compression and supports color depths from 1-bit to 24-bit. PCX was the dominant image format on DOS-based PCs before being superseded by BMP, JPEG, and PNG in the Windows era.

PFM (Portable Float Map) extends the Netpbm format family to store floating-point pixel values instead of integer values, preserving full mathematical precision. It is commonly used in scientific imaging, computer graphics research, and HDR imaging workflows where precise floating-point luminance data must not be quantized. PFM files are larger than standard image formats but essential for downstream processing that requires exact numerical accuracy.

PGM (Portable Graymap) is part of the Netpbm family of portable image formats and stores grayscale images in either plain-text or binary form. It supports bit depths up to 65535 and is widely used in computer vision research, scientific imaging, and image processing pipelines. PGM files are simple to parse programmatically, making them popular in academic and research environments.

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a widely-used lossless raster image format created as an open, patent-free alternative to GIF. It supports 24-bit color, full 8-bit alpha channel transparency, and highly efficient lossless compression. PNG is the preferred format for images with sharp edges, text overlays, logos, and any content where pixel-perfect lossless quality is essential, and it is universally supported in every browser and application.

PNM (Portable Any Map) is an umbrella format encompassing the PBM (bitmap), PGM (graymap), and PPM (pixmap) Netpbm image formats. A PNM reader can automatically detect and decode monochrome, grayscale, or full-color images using the same code path. It is commonly used in Unix image processing pipelines and scientific computing environments due to its extreme simplicity and cross-platform portability.

PPM (Portable Pixmap) is part of the Netpbm format family and stores full-color RGB images in a simple, uncompressed plain-text or binary format. It is the most straightforward way to represent raw color pixel data and is widely used in academic research, computer vision experiments, and cross-platform image processing pipelines. In plain-text form, PPM files are human-readable, which makes debugging image data trivial.

PSD (Photoshop Document) is Adobe's native file format for Adobe Photoshop, the industry-standard image editing application. It preserves all editing information including layers, masks, adjustment layers, paths, blend modes, and channels, enabling fully non-destructive editing workflows. PSD files are essential in professional graphic design and photo retouching, though they can be very large due to their comprehensive layer data.

QOI (Quite OK Image) is a fast, simple lossless image format designed as a speed-optimized alternative to PNG. It encodes and decodes images in a single linear pass with extremely simple logic, often achieving faster encoding than PNG while producing comparable file sizes. QOI is gaining adoption in game development, real-time graphics, and embedded systems where encoding speed matters as much as compression ratio.

SGI (Silicon Graphics Image) is a raster image format developed by Silicon Graphics for use on their professional IRIX workstations. It supports multiple color channels, various bit depths, and optional RLE compression for efficient storage. SGI images were common in professional 3D animation and visual effects workflows throughout the 1990s and are still encountered in some specialized legacy creative pipelines.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML-based vector image format maintained by the W3C as an open web standard. Unlike raster formats, SVG images are mathematically defined and scale infinitely without any quality loss, and can be styled and animated with CSS and JavaScript directly in browsers. SVG is the definitive format for logos, icons, illustrations, and data visualizations that must look crisp across every screen size and resolution.

TGA (Targa Image) is a raster image format developed by Truevision in 1984, supporting 8, 16, 24, and 32-bit color with an optional alpha channel for transparency. It uses optional RLE compression and was a leading format in early video production and 3D rendering due to its straightforward structure and alpha support. TGA remains in active use today in game development, digital compositing, and animation pipelines.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a flexible, high-quality raster image format widely used in professional photography, desktop publishing, scanning, and archival imaging. It supports lossless compression, multiple color spaces (RGB, CMYK, LAB), multi-page documents, and can embed multiple images within a single file. TIFF is the standard format for scanned documents, medical imaging, and any workflow that demands the highest possible image fidelity.

XBM (X BitMap) is a monochrome raster image format native to the X Window System, used on Unix-like operating systems. Uniquely, it stores bitmap data as a C language source code array, making it directly includable in C programs without any parsing library. XBM is primarily used for small monochrome icons and cursor bitmaps in X11 applications, though it is rarely encountered outside of this ecosystem.

XPM (X PixMap) is a color extension of the XBM format, also native to the X Window System on Unix-like operating systems. Like XBM, it stores pixel color data as a C source code array using a color name table, but supports multiple indexed colors per pixel. XPM is commonly used for small color icons in X11-based desktop environments and GUI toolkits such as GTK and Motif.