Table 1 Summary of file formats
  BMP DICOM GIF JPEG JPEG 2000 PNG PSD TIFF
Extension bmp dcm gif jpeg, jpg, jif, jfif jp2, jpx, jpc, j2k png psd tif, tiff
Bit Depth (grey) 1, 4, 8 8, 16 1, 4, 8 8 8, 16 1, 4, 8, 16 1, 4, 8, 16 8, 16
Bit Depth (colour) 1, 4, 8, 24 8, 24, 48 1, 4, 8 24 24, 48 1, 4, 8, 24, 48 1, 4, 8, 24, 48 8, 24, 48
Compression1                
(lossless) * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
(lossy)
*   * * *     *
Comments Support for compressed BMP is rare Complex data element structure often introduces minor incompa-tibilities between vendors For simple diagrams, GIF often compresses better than others Support for lossless JPEG compression is rare JPEG 2000 has yet to garner widespread support Fully open standard designed to replace GIF and TIFF Proprietary format used in Adobe® Photoshop® Support for lossy TIFF compression is rare

1 The star rating system is based on relative differences of compression performance to other formats, rather than an absolute performance ranking. A single star difference does not indicate a magnitude of improvement, but rather a noticeable improvement in general.

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