Image file formats
Files that hold pictures: grids of pixels, shapes drawn at any size, the raw data from a camera sensor, the layered work files of image editors, high dynamic range and scientific images, icons and the formats of the classic paint programs.
Subcategories
Raster
Images stored as a grid of pixels.
19 formatsVector
Images stored as shapes, lines and text, drawn sharp at any size.
8 formatsCamera raw
The sensor data straight from a digital camera, before processing.
8 formatsLayered project
Image editors’ own files, keeping layers, masks and effects.
7 formatsHDR & scientific
Images with a wide range of brightness, and measurements stored as images.
7 formatsIcon
Small images in several sizes, for programs, files, folders and pointers.
7 formatsRetro
The formats of the paint programs of the 1980s and early 1990s.
7 formatsAll image file formats
| Format | Name | About | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raster | |||
.AVIF | AV1 Image File Format | Royalty-free AV1-compressed images in HEIF boxes, with alpha, HDR and animation. | Open |
.BMP | OS/2 bitmap array (BA) | Several OS/2 bitmaps, icons or pointers for different screens, chained in one file. | Open |
.BMP | Windows bitmap (BM) | Windows bitmaps: a header, an optional palette and rows of pixels. | Open |
.GIF | Graphics Interchange Format (GIF87a) | The first GIF: palette images on a logical screen, LZW compressed, no extensions. | Open |
.GIF | Graphics Interchange Format (GIF89a) | Palette images of up to 256 colours, LZW compressed, often animated. | Open |
.HEIC | High Efficiency Image File Format | HEVC-compressed photos in ISO media boxes, the iPhone's default since 2017. | Open |
.ICO | OS/2 colour icon (CI) | A colour OS/2 icon: a 1-bit mask bitmap followed by a colour image. | Open |
.ICO | OS/2 icon (IC) | A black and white OS/2 icon: AND and XOR masks in one 1-bit bitmap. | Open |
.JPG | JPEG image | Lossy compressed photographs, in marker segments with JFIF or Exif metadata. | Open |
.JXL | JPEG XL | The JPEG committee's newer format: lossy or lossless, HDR, and lossless JPEG repacking. | Open |
.PNG | Portable Network Graphics | Lossless raster images with transparency, stored in CRC-checked chunks. | Open |
.PPM | Netpbm image (PPM, PGM, PBM) | Uncompressed colour, greyscale or black and white images with a tiny text header. | Open |
.PTR | OS/2 colour pointer (CP) | A colour OS/2 mouse pointer: masks, a colour image and a hotspot. | Open |
.PTR | OS/2 pointer (PT) | A black and white OS/2 mouse pointer, with its hotspot in the header. | Open |
.QOI | Quite OK Image Format | A tiny lossless RGB and RGBA format, much faster to code than PNG. | Open |
.TGA | Truevision TGA | Simple raster images with alpha, raw or run-length encoded, common for game textures. | Open |
.TIFF | BigTIFF | TIFF with 64-bit offsets, for images and files larger than 4 GB. | Open |
.TIFF | Tagged Image File Format (classic) | Flexible tagged images for print, scanning and archives, often multi-page. | Open |
.WEBP | WebP image | Google’s web image format: lossy, lossless or animated, in RIFF chunks. | Open |
| Vector | |||
.AI | Adobe Illustrator Artwork | Illustrator's working file: a PDF carrying Illustrator's own editing data. | Open |
.CDR | CorelDRAW drawing | CorelDRAW's working file: RIFF chunks in older versions, a ZIP archive since X4. | Open |
.DRAWIO | draw.io diagram | draw.io diagrams: XML pages of shapes and connectors, sometimes compressed. | Open |
.EMF | Enhanced Metafile | A recording of 32-bit Windows drawing calls, used in Office and on the clipboard. | Open |
.EPS | Encapsulated PostScript | A single PostScript drawing for placing in other documents, with an optional preview. | Open |
.JSON | Lottie animation | Vector animations as JSON, exported from After Effects and played in apps and web pages. | Open |
.SVG | Scalable Vector Graphics | The web’s vector format: shapes, text and gradients written as XML. | Open |
.WMF | Windows Metafile | A recording of 16-bit Windows drawing calls, replayed to draw the picture. | Open |
| Camera raw | |||
.ARW | Sony Alpha Raw | Sony’s raw photo format, a little-endian TIFF with Sony’s own tags. | Open |
.CR2 | Canon Raw version 2 | Canon’s TIFF-based raw photo format, used until 2018. | Open |
.CR3 | Canon Raw version 3 | Canon’s raw photo format since 2018, stored in ISO base media boxes. | Open |
.DNG | Adobe Digital Negative | Adobe’s open raw photo format, built on TIFF. | Open |
.NEF | Nikon Electronic Format | Nikon’s raw photo format, built on TIFF with Nikon’s own tags. | Open |
.ORF | Olympus raw image | Olympus and OM System raw photos, a TIFF-like file with its own header. | Open |
.RAF | Fujifilm raw image | Fujifilm’s raw photo format, with its own header ahead of a JPEG preview and the data. | Open |
.RW2 | Panasonic raw image | Panasonic Lumix raw photos, a TIFF-like file with its own magic number. | Open |
| Layered project | |||
.AFPHOTO | Affinity Photo document | Affinity Photo’s working file, with layers, adjustments and masks. | Open |
.KRA | Krita document | Krita’s working file: a zip of XML, tiled layer data and a flattened PNG. | Open |
.ORA | OpenRaster | An open layered image format: PNG layers and an XML stack in a zip. | Open |
.PDN | Paint.NET image | Paint.NET’s layered working file, with a PDN3 signature and XML header. | Open |
.PROCREATE | Procreate document | The iPad painting app’s working file: a zip with layer tiles and a preview. | Open |
.PSD | Adobe Photoshop Document | Photoshop’s working file, with layers, masks and a flattened composite. | Open |
.XCF | GIMP image | GIMP’s working file, with layers, channels and paths in tiles. | Open |
| HDR & scientific | |||
.DCM | DICOM medical image | Medical scans with patient and study details, as tagged data elements. | Open |
.DDS | DirectDraw Surface | DirectX textures, usually block-compressed, with mipmaps and cube maps. | Open |
.EXR | OpenEXR image | Floating point HDR images with many channels, for film and rendering. | Open |
.FITS | Flexible Image Transport System | Astronomy’s images and tables, with plain text headers in 2880-byte blocks. | Open |
.HDR | Radiance HDR image | High dynamic range images with a shared exponent per pixel, used for lighting. | Open |
.KTX | Khronos Texture | GPU-ready textures with mipmaps for OpenGL, Vulkan and glTF. | Open |
.PFM | Portable Float Map | Uncompressed 32-bit float images after a three-line text header. | Open |
| Icon | |||
.ANI | Windows animated cursor | Animated Windows mouse pointers: cursor frames and timing in RIFF chunks. | Open |
.ICL | Windows icon library | Many Windows icons as resources in a 16-bit NE library with no code. | Open |
.ICNS | Apple Icon Image | macOS application icons, one picture in many sizes, mostly as PNG. | Open |
.ICO | Windows icon | Windows icons and cursors: one picture in several sizes, as bitmaps or PNGs. | Open |
.INFO | Amiga Workbench icon | Amiga icons: the picture and Workbench settings for the file of the same name. | Open |
.XBM | X BitMap | Black and white X Window System images, written as C source code. | Open |
.XPM | X PixMap | Colour X Window System icons written as C strings, one character per pixel. | Open |
| Retro | |||
.IFF | Interleaved Bitmap (IFF ILBM) | Amiga and Deluxe Paint pictures, stored as interleaved bitplanes. | Open |
.IMG | GEM Image | GEM desktop bitmaps for PC and Atari ST: a word header and run-length planes. | Open |
.KOA | Koala Painter picture | Commodore 64 multicolour bitmaps: bitmap, screen and colour memory in 10003 bytes. | Open |
.MAC | MacPaint image | The first Mac’s paint documents: 576 by 720 black and white, PackBits rows. | Open |
.NEO | NEOchrome picture | Atari ST low resolution screens from NEOchrome, with colour cycling settings. | Open |
.PCX | PC Paintbrush image | ZSoft’s MS-DOS paint format: a 128-byte header and run-length encoded lines. | Open |
.PI1 | DEGAS picture | Atari ST pictures from DEGAS: a palette and a copy of screen memory. | Open |