What are my alternatives to GIF and TIFF-LZW file formats?
A good alternative to LZW for compressing ASCII data is the LZ77 algorithm used by the zip and PKZIP file archivers and the gzip (GNU zip) file compression program. The most popular alternative for multi-bit image data is the JPEG compression algorithm and the JFIF and SPIFF file formats. JFIF and SPIFF-JPEG files are smaller and store far more colors than GIF files. Another newer alternative is the PNG format, which is currently under development (see the section “PNG – Portable Network Graphics” in Part 3 of this FAQ). PNG is unencumbered by patent licenses and has much potential and promise in replacing GIF. But, most software that supports PNG will likely have been written after January 1, 1995, so make sure that your GIF-to-PNG conversion program has the proper Unisys license.
