Whats the best file format to save my scans in, TIFF, BMP or JPG?
We recommend TIFF files every time. There are several types of TIFF file. TIFF Group 4 is widely used for saving black and white images. Other TIFF file types can save colour. TIFF files are usually compressed. Because they are compressed they save disk space but unlike JPG files which are also compressed TIFF files don’t lose data or quality during the compression process. BMP (bitmap) is good because it does not lose file quality, but being an uncompressed format it creates very large files. JPG files are the worst. When an image is saved as JPG its quality deteriorates. This can often be seen on CAD drawings as “clouds” or smudges around what should be clean, sharp drawing lines. In addition, JPG files are always colour files. If you save a black and white (2 colour) image as JPG, it will be converted to 16.7 million colours and your clean, sharp black lines will be converted into different colour shades with “clouds” or smudges around them. If you are intending to convert your draw
