SillyDog701

[beanboy89]

I have seen many screenshots here at SillyDog701, and all over the Internet. I have even cerated some screenshots myself and uploaded them to forums and webpages. I have seen JPG, PNG, GIF, along with some other formats in screenshots. I've used JPG, PNG, and GIF formats before, but haven't really thought about it until now. What are some advantages and disadvantages for each format of screenshots, if any; and what format do other members here use in saving a screenshot?

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[netdude21]

The best screenshot file format I've seen and used is .jpg, plus it depends on the resolution you use. I prefer that you use 800 x 600 resolution if you're going to save the screenshots on the internet. Although you can use 640 x 480.


Hope this helps

Netdude21

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[Andrew T.]

JPG, GIF, and PNG are by far the most popular image formats found on the web, since they are well-supported by browsers and are relatively small in file size.

JPG is a lossy file format; JPG screenshots are slightly worse in image quality than those saved in lossless formats, particularly when high compression settings are used. However, this doesn't always matter; this compression is offset by the small file sizes that can be obtained, and if you resize your screenshots (There is a stipulation, for example, that screenshots displayed in this website be no more than 550 pixels wide) you're obviously not going to get pixel-by-pixel-accurate quality anyway. JPG would be better suited to screenshots involving, say, gradients or photo-like compositions.

GIF and PNG are (usually) lossless file formats, so they are often superior in image quality, but larger in file size, than JPG. GIF is an older format, is better-supported by old browsers, and is capable of implementing animations. PNG is a newer and (in some ways) superior format; the format can handle more colors, and PNG files may be smaller in file size than equivalent GIFs. In a few cases (with simple screenshots involving very few colors, for example), GIF may be smaller.

My recommendations:
Use JPG if you intend to resize your screenshots or your screenshots have complex graphic designs or patterns as opposed to simple colors and patterns. Otherwise, use PNG. (or GIF if the screenshot is very simple.)

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win95; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[Al]

I recommend PNG. PNG's is going to replace GIF's someday. GIF's only support up to 256 colours.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041108 Firefox/1.0

[Antony]

PNG can be real large in file format. In similar graphic quality (JPEG and PNG), the file size of PNG can be scary, however, opensource supports tend to like PNG a lot.

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[Don_HH2K]

There's no real problem on the part of PNG except for the fact that they'll only go up to 256 colors, so it's not good if you want to take a desktop screenshot (unless you're using one of the old Win98 preloaded wallpapers maybe). I know there's PNG-24, but IE, which 85% of everybody uses, doesn't support PNG-24. However, that didn't stop me from using PNG-24 images for Donzilla screenshots..
BTW Antony, I found PNG-24 to be a bit smaller than JPEG for such screenshots.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (Donzilla/0.5)

[Antony]

BTW Antony, I found PNG-24 to be a bit smaller than JPEG for such screenshots.

That's true in certain cases. With JPEG, you can specify the compression/picture quality. With low compression (high picture quality), the file size for JPEG (picture file) is generally a bit larger than PNG-24.

It all depends on how much detail you want to present, and how much loss in picture quality you can accept.

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