Which image file type is better, in terms of quality and file size, jpeg or rgb?
Depending on what you want to do, I’d recommend JPEG 90% of the time. Bitmap files are large in size and if you have to resize them you can end up with some pretty awful results. If you want to send a file to a printer or publisher (newspaper/magazine) then TIFF at a minimum of 300 dpi. is what they will want. TIFF (or TIF) files have high quality but also they tend to be quite large in size and can soon hog a lot of your hard drive space. For personal use, sharing over the internet or on web sites then either JPEG or GIF is best. GIF is great for “simple” images like cartoons – plain areas of yellow, blue etc. basically a colour palette of 128 colours. If the image is more complex (like a photo) then JPEG files can handle billions of colours and will retain good quality at a reasonable file size. BMP (bitmap) files are a bit of a hangover from the days when computers cost an arm and a leg for basically an overgrown calculator. They are no longer a common or efficient image file system
