What is the difference between a JPEG file and a GIF file?
A JPEG file is generally used for continuous tone images such as photographs. JPEG’s reduce file size by using compression algorithms. JPEG compression always lowers overall quality just a bit so JPEG compression is known as lossy. JPEG’s can be created using different quality settings. The higher the quality the larger the file and vice versa. A GIF file is generally used for images with large areas of solid color such as in line art, logos and illustrations. The GIF format is also lossy. Most of the images and graphics you see on the internet are either JPEG or GIF.
