You know that moment when you send your logo to a printer and they reply with “Do you have this in vector format?” And you have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about? Yeah. Let’s fix that.
The Only Two Things You Need to Know
There are ten different image file types. But really, there are only two categories that matter:
- Raster files = Made of pixels (gets blurry when you make it bigger)
- Vector files = Made of math (stays crisp no matter the size)
Everything else is just details.
Raster Files (The Ones That Get Pixelated)
Raster images are made of tiny squares called pixels. Think of them like a mosaic. Up close, you see the individual tiles. From far away, it looks like a picture.
The problem? When you stretch a mosaic to make it bigger, you just get bigger tiles. Not more details.
That’s why your logo looks like hot garbage when you try to blow it up for a banner.
JPEG (or JPG): The One You’re Already Using
This is what your phone saves photos as. This is what’s in your email signature. This is what’s probably in your “Brand Assets” folder, even though it shouldn’t be.
JPEGs use “lossy” compression, which is a fancy way of saying “we threw away some of the image data to make the file smaller.”
Use it for: Photos on your website, email attachments, literally anything on the web.
Don’t use it for: Your logo (unless you have no other choice), anything you need to print large, or anything on a transparent background.
Fun fact: JPG and JPEG are the same thing. The only difference is three characters versus four. That’s it. Stop asking.
PNG: The Better JPEG (With Transparency)
PNGs are what you use when you need a logo on a transparent background. That’s basically it.
They don’t lose quality like JPEGs, but they create bigger files. Which is fine for the web, terrible for email.
Use it for: Logos on your website, graphics with transparent backgrounds, anything that needs to look sharp on a screen.
Don’t use it for: Print (It’s the wrong colour space for print), photos (files too big), anything you need to resize later.
GIF: The Meme Format
GIFs are either animated or they’re a worse version of PNG. That’s the whole story.
You know them from your group chats when someone posts the “This is fine” dog. That’s their natural habitat.
Use it for: Animated content, extremely simple graphics, and nothing important.
Don’t use it for: Your logo, professional photography, anything you care about.
TIFF: The One Photographers Use
TIFFs are massive files that retain all the image quality. Photographers love them. Your website hates them.
A single TIFF can be 50MB. Loading that on a website is like trying to drink from a fire hose.
Use it for: Print photography, archiving images, and nothing on the web.
Don’t use it for: Literally anything on the internet.
PSD: The Photoshop File
This is the working file from Photoshop. It has layers. Your designer uses it to make changes.
You can’t do anything with it unless you have Photoshop (which costs money) or you send it to someone who does.
Use it for: Giving to designers so they can edit things.
Don’t use it for: Anything else.
Vector Files (The Good Ones)
Vector files are made of mathematical formulas, not pixels. Scale them to the size of a billboard or shrink them to a postage stamp – they always look perfect.
This is what your logo should be.
If you don’t have your logo as a vector, you’re doing business wrong. Full stop.
AI: Adobe Illustrator (The Gold Standard)
This is what professional designers use to create logos and graphics. It’s the native file format of Adobe Illustrator.
If you have an .ai file of your logo, you’re golden. Keep that file safe. Back it up. Tattoo the file path on your arm.
Use it for: Everything. Seriously. This is the master file.
Don’t use it for: Sending to people who don’t have Adobe Illustrator (they can’t open it).
EPS: Encapsulated PostScript (The Universal Vector Format)
EPS is like AI’s more compatible cousin. Almost any design software can open it.
This is what you send to printers, sign makers, t-shirt companies, and anyone who needs to use your logo professionally.
Use it for: Literally any print project, sending to vendors, and being a responsible business owner.
Don’t use it for: The web (most browsers can’t display it).
PDF: The Everyone-Can-Open-It Format
Adobe invented PDFs so you could share documents with anyone, anywhere, without things getting weird.
A PDF can be either raster or vector, depending on how it was made. If your designer saves your logo as a PDF, you can view it without special software and send it around without drama.
Use it for: Sharing with non-designers, presentations, when you’re not sure what format they need.
Don’t use it for: Web graphics (overkill), as your only logo file (get the AI or EPS too).
INDD: Adobe InDesign Files
InDesign is for laying out magazines, brochures, and multi-page documents. The .indd file is the working document.
Unless you’re a designer, you’ll never need to touch one of these.
Use it for: Literally nothing unless you’re a designer.
Don’t use it for: Anything.
RAW: Camera Files (Not Actually Useful Yet)
RAW files are what your camera creates before it turns them into JPEGs. They contain all the data, unprocessed.
Photographers love them because you can edit them extensively. Everyone else finds them annoying because you can’t actually use them until you convert them to something else.
Use it for: Professional photography editing.
Don’t use it for: Anything else.
The Files You Actually Need
Stop collecting file formats like Pokémon cards. Here’s what you actually need:
For Your Logo:
- AI or EPS – The master vector file (keep this forever)
- PNG – Transparent background for web
- JPEG – When someone can’t use PNG
For Photos:
- JPEG – For web
- TIFF or RAW – For print/archival
- PNG – Never for photos (files too big)
For Web Graphics:
- PNG – If you need transparency
- JPEG – If you don’t
- GIF – Only if it moves
The SEO Angle (Because Page Speed Matters)
Google cares about how fast your website loads. Heavy images slow down your site. Slow sites rank worse. It’s that simple.
Here’s what actually affects your SEO:
JPEG wins for SEO: Smallest file sizes, fastest load times. This is what you should use for 90% of your website images.
PNG is okay for SEO: If you need transparency or super sharp graphics. But compress them. A 2MB PNG will kill your page speed scores.
WebP is the new hotness: It’s what Google wants you to use. Smaller files than JPEG with better quality. Problem? Some older browsers don’t support it. Use it with a JPEG fallback.
GIF will murder your page speed: Unless it’s tiny. Animated GIFs are massive files. That fun 5MB GIF on your homepage? It’s costing you rankings.
TIFF will destroy your SEO: Never. Not even once. A single TIFF can be larger than your entire website should be.
The real SEO trick isn’t which format you use. It’s compression. A well-compressed JPEG at 80% quality looks identical to the original but loads 10x faster.
Use tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim. Compress everything before you upload it. Your page speed scores (and your rankings) will thank you.
The Resolution Trap
Here’s where people get confused. They ask, “How do I make this image higher resolution?”
The answer: You can’t.
You can’t add pixels that don’t exist. Photoshop is powerful, but it can’t create detail from nothing.
Web images are 72 DPI (dots per inch). Print needs 300 DPI minimum.
Pulling an image off your website and trying to print it large is like trying to turn a postage stamp into a poster. It doesn’t work. It will look terrible. Stop trying.
What to Actually Ask Your Designer For
Stop asking for “the logo in every format.” You don’t need twelve versions of the same file.
Ask for:
- Vector master file (AI or EPS)
- PNG with transparent background (for web, at least 2000px wide)
- JPEG (for when someone can’t use PNG)
That’s it. Everything else can be created from those three files.
The Truth About File Formats
Most people overthink this.
Vector for logos and graphics you’ll resize. Raster for photos and web images. That’s 90% of what you need to know.
The other 10% is just designers showing off with acronyms.
Don’t let file formats intimidate you. They’re just containers for images. What matters is using the right container for the job.
And for the love of all that is holy, stop using JPEGs for your logo.