From Design Into Print: Preparing Graphics and Text for Professional Printing

Chapter 8. File Formats

Every time you create a document or a graphic on the computer, the program saves that graphic with a particular file format, or internal structure. Some formats are raster, others are vector; some are high resolution, others are low resolution; some are specific to a certain type of computer or even to a certain application, others can be used by any computer or application, etc.

Just as different software programs are good at performing different tasks, different file formats are good for different purposes. For instance, some file formats are good for reproducing on office printers, but not on commercial presses; some are best for high-resolution printing; others are excellent for low-resolution Web graphics. Some file ...