Choosing the right format

Web browsers support a number of formats of which JPEG, PNG, and SVG are the most common. Most of them work in TAO, though SVG can’t be used as a background image in Graphic Interactions.

As a rule of thumb, if your picture contains many colors (e.g. a photograph), JPEG is the right choice. JPEGs can have different file extensions, mostly *.jpg, but you will also see *.jpeg and occasionally *.jpe. This can be confusing but they are all in the same format.

On Windows, file extensions are often hidden but you can easily enable them in your File Explorer by selecting View -> File extension

PNG files are more suitable for pictures that contain text portions or large areas in the same color, for instance, multi-color logos or screenshots. While JPEGs in this case typically show little artifacts (speckles in a neighboring color), PNGs usually stay crisp. PNGs are either 8 or 24 bit. Most image processors will let you choose when you save a file. 24-bit is generally only required if portions of the picture are semi-transparent. If you know that the picture will only be used in the context of, for example, a white item, you can give it a white background to avoid transparency and thereby decrease the file size.

SVG is a vector format that is best suited for pictures that show merely geometric forms, text, and so on. Working with SVG is fundamentally different from working with JPEG or PNG. If you aren’t familiar with SVG you may want to consider using PNG instead.