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Which is the best image format to use for your control panel?
transfan:
I'm taking my 300dpi CPO to the printer's. It's a raster file in .psd right now. Is there any consensus on file format?
I'm leaning towards a gigantic .tif or .png, .jpg seems to be not so good.
Thoughts?
bkenobi:
Raw formats (no compression) are always the best choice. If you go with a compressed format, you will have to boost the resolution so high that it eliminates the disk space benefits from going with jpg anyway.
Actually, the best choice is to go with a vector source (non-rastered) since that will look perfect no matter what size you print it. Of course, that can be difficult depending on the image.
ragnar:
I agree with what bkenobi (Ben Kenobi in star wars?) said. Your best option is vector if your printer supports it. Second best is lossless (BMP, etc). Any lossy formats would be a mistake for this, especially in the age of inexpensive memory (1 gig USB sticks, etc).
If it were me, I'd just do a 300 DPI BMP (or other lossless format file) since there is no question as to where things will land once printed. I'd call and ask the printer what is the best choice.
newmanfamilyvlogs:
TIFF is not bad either as it supports lossess compression. As does PNG.
bkenobi:
I didn't realize there were compression options in TIFF and PNG. Interesting!