Message-Id: <mailto:199507101358.IAA25923@library.wustl.edu> Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 09:33:25 EDT From: mailto:IGribovsky@IDRC.CA> Subject: Re: Archiving images and documents painlessly To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
I can offer advice in the image file format category. Consider using JPG or at least GIF. First of all, these two are the most widely used file formats for imaging (closest you can get to a "standard"; just check WWW: the small images that are part of the page are usually GIF, while the larger, more detailed images are usually JPG). As such, JPG and GIF files are more readily transferable between users and programs. (If given a choice between JPG and GIF, I would definitely prefer JPG...).Second, GIF and especially the (compressed) JPG files are not nearly as large as TIFF files...a great thing where storage is concerned. For example, I scanned in a 35 mm slide at medium resolution, then sved it as JPG, GIF, and TIFF for comparison. The sizes of the resulting image files were as follows:
- 103 086 bytes (JPG -- the smallest); - 496 872 bytes (GIF); - a whoppin' 3 926 820 byes (that's almost 4 Mb!!!) (TIFF)
The only reason I can think of not using JPG is if you want image files that a computer can read with absolutley NO LOSS at all (remember, when something's being compressed, something's gotta go...) However, this LOSS is apparently NOT perceived by the human eye (although there's been some discussion on this group before about that, and it's not my specialty...)
Anyway, this has just been my experience...
Rina Gribovsky Librarian A/V Resources International Development Research Centre Ottawa, ON Canada