What animation formats are there

However, note that not every file format can contain all the information in it. So, now let us discuss the most popular ones that are used today and is a go-to for the artists, be it a 3D designer, animator, or engineer. Several software packages are available for CGI animation to secure the desired outcomes. For instance, you can build a character model in any software program by enhancing the details like facial expressions and muscular flexes. However, the challenge is to import the file to a different rendering software during the process, and the chosen format has to be compatible with it.

Each format has its specific requirements and serves particular functions. So, for a given type of animation, you have to use a matching file format, and the problem with that is the inconsistency of the software. If the file lacks compatibility with the software, vital data may get lost during the transfer. There is also the risk of the file getting corrupted. To avoid this, let us take a look at the most popular 3D file formats that are used in the year and the different purposes they are suitable for.

This stereolithography format is deployed for the transfer of files that are meant for 3D visualization and printing. It can only support non-complex geometry and is specified in both ASCII and binary form of representations.

STEP was developed to provide animators with a platform for describing product-related data all along the lifecycle of the model.

The best part of using it is you do not have to rely on a specific system. However, the drawback of this format is its complex nature and size of the original files. To overcome these shortcomings, STEP has been disintegrated into modular systems. The popularity of this exchange format is mainly because of its ability to store data that is related to complex geometry, material attributes, and topological features. This format enjoys the privilege of being compatible with all 3D packages available in the market.

There is no hassle involved in exporting the file format to any 3D software. Along with less complication, attributes such as color, material, textural properties can be stored in it. It is a mesh file format that was initially used by AutoDesk 3D Studio in However, now it is evolved as 3D Studio MAX by the time it was involved with the works of 3D rendering , animation, and modeling. It is also one of the popular file formats and contains data for representing images and scenes.

It is generally used to define and store the 3D objects. Apart from that, it also supports forward and backward transmission of geometric data. It is open-source, neutral, and can be easily implemented by the vendors for any applications with 3D graphics. Since it was specifically developed for 3D designing , it is able to provide support for animation. However, the transformational and hierarchical modules are missing. Besides, color-related information is not stored by default and instead, a file with.

MTL extension is used for storing the color information. The matrix offered in this file support is significant. This means we can utilize the important elements of an image without needing to change things like a background color if we placed it on transparency. This is a big reason why most major sites create their logo as a. Best uses for. PNG include images that contain text, graphics with hard edges, and elements that require transparent backgrounds like logos.

GIF file format is essentially the faster loading cousin of. PNG with one catch—the image needs to be under exactly colors. You should only use this file format for low-resolution images. So elements like photographs or graphics that use gradients would immediately be out of the question for the.

GIF format. But elements like solid color buttons or banners are ideal as these will usually load faster than the. PNG version, while keeping all the cool features like transparencies and preserving hard edges. Another awesome feature that only. SVG files are text files containing source code that, when interpreted, draws the desired image.

For instance, this example defines an drawing area with initial size by units, containing a line drawn diagonally through the box:. SVG is an ideal choice for images which can be represented using a series of drawing commands, especially if the size at which the image will be rendered is unknown or may vary, since SVG will smoothly scale to the desired size.

It's not generally useful for strictly bitmap or photographic images, although it is possible to include bitmap images within an SVG. TIFF is a raster graphics file format which was created to store scanned photos, although it can be any kind of image. It is a somewhat "heavy" format, in that TIFF files have a tendency to be larger than images in other formats. This is because of the metadata often included, as well as the fact that most TIFF images are either uncompressed or use compression algorithms that still leave fairly large files after compression.

Every value in a TIFF file is specified using its tag indicating what kind of information it is, such as the width of the image and its type indicating the format the data is stored in , followed by the length of the array of values to assign to that tag all properties are stored in arrays, even for single values. This allows different data types to be used for the same properties.

For example, the width of an image, ImageWidth , is stored using tag 0x , and is a one-entry array. A single TIFF file can contain multiple images; this may be used to represent multi-page documents, for example such as a multi-page scanned document, or a received fax. However, software reading TIFF files is only required to support the first image.

Long ago, some browsers supported TIFF images in web content; today, however, you need to use special libraries or browser add-ons to do so. As such, TIFF files are not useful within the context of web content, but it's common to provide downloadable TIFF files when distributing photos and other artwork intended for precision editing or printing. WebP supports lossy compression via predictive coding based on the VP8 video codec, and lossless compression that uses substitutions for repeating data.

WebP also supports animation: in a lossy WebP file, the image data is represented by a VP8 bitstream, which may contain multiple frames. Looping is supported. WebP now has broad support in the latest versions of major web browsers, although it does not have deep historical support. Note: Despite having announced support for WebP in Safari 14, as of version XBM X Bitmap files were the first to be supported on the Web, but are no longer used and should be avoided, as their format has potential security concerns.

Modern browsers have not supported XBM files in many years, but when dealing with older content, you may find some still around. XBM uses a snippet of C code to represent the contents of the image as an array of bytes. Each image consists of 2 to 4 define directives, providing the width and height of the bitmap and optionally the hotspot, if the image is designed as a cursor , followed by an array of unsigned char , where each value contains 8 1-bit monochrome pixels.

The image must be a multiple of 8 pixels wide. For example, the following code represents an XBM image which is 8 pixels by 8 pixels, with those pixels in a black-and-white checkerboard pattern:. Picking the best image format for your needs is likely easier than video formats, as there are fewer options with broad support, and each tends to have a specific set of use-cases.

Photographs typically fare well with lossy compression depending on the encoder's configuration. To maximize quality and minimize download time, consider providing both using a fallback with WebP as the first choice and JPEG as the second.

Otherwise, JPEG is the safe choice for compatibility. For smaller images such as icons, use a lossless format to avoid loss of detail in a size-constrained image.

While lossless WebP is ideal for this purpose, support is not widespread yet, so PNG is a better choice unless you offer a fallback. If the icon can be represented using vector graphics, consider SVG , since it scales across various resolutions and sizes, so it's perfect for responsive design.

Unless you're willing to compromise on quality, you should use a lossless format for screenshots. This is particularly important if there's any text in your screenshot, as text easily becomes fuzzy and unclear under lossy compression. For any image that can be represented using vector graphics, SVG is the best choice. Otherwise, you should use a lossless format like PNG.

If you do choose a lossy format, such as JPEG or lossy WebP, carefully weigh the compression level to avoid causing text or other shapes to become fuzzy or unclear. Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to select language Web technology for developers Web media technologies Media type and format guide: image, audio, and video content Image file type and format guide Change language.

The image file formats that are most commonly used on the web are listed below. AVIF offers slightly better compression, but is not quite as well-supported in browsers and does not support progressive rendering. True color 8 and 16 Each pixel is represented by three D -bit values indicating the level of the red, green, and blue color components.

Indexed color 1, 2, 4, and 8 Each pixel is a D -bit value indicating an index into a color palette which is contained within a PLTE chunk in the APNG file; the colors in the palette all use an 8-bit depth. Greyscale with alpha 8 and 16 Each pixel is represented by two D -bit values: the intensity of the greyscale pixel and an alpha sample, indicating how opaque the pixel is. True color with alpha 8 and 16 Each pixel is comprised of four D -pixel color components: red, green, blue, and the alpha sample indicating how opaque the pixel is.

Indexed color 8 Each color in a GIF palette is defined as 8 bits each of red, green, and blue 24 total bits per pixel. As of July 7, , all relevant patents have expired and the GIF format may be used freely. True color 8 Each pixel is described by the red, blue, and green color components, each of which is 8 bits. Compression Lossy; based on the discrete cosine transform Licensing As of October 27, , all United States patents have expired.

W3C liability , trademark , document use and software licensing rules apply. No known royalty-bearing patents. The PhotometricInterpretation field specifies which of 0 and 1 are black and which is white.

Greyscale 4 and 8 Each pixel consists of a single D -bit value indicating the brightness of the greyscale pixel. True color 8 All true color RGB images are stored using 8-bits each of red, green, and blue.