While working on digital art, photo editing, or graphic design, it’s quite important to know about the supported file types in Photoshop to save your projects in the best format.
Below, we’ll discuss the JPG, PNG, PSD, GIF, and other common formats, along with their pros and cons, so you can choose a suitable one for your file to maintain quality while saving it on your device and make sure it is compatible with other software programs.
Table of Contents
Most Common File Types Supported By Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop lets you export your projects using 7 file formats. Each one serves varying purposes and has its own benefits and advantages.
JPG
JPG (known as JPEG or Joint Photographic Experts Group) is mainly suitable for displaying photographs and continuous-tone images in HTML documents. This file format is best if you want to save your pictures in smaller sizes while maintaining a reasonable quality after editing in Photoshop.
Pros
- Small file size, which is best for sharing and web pages
- Compatible with all devices and editing applications
- Perfect for saving images for print and online sharing
- Supports Grayscale, RBG, and MYK color modes
Cons
- Discards some image data because of the use of a compression scheme.
- Does not support transparency.
PNG
Developed as a royalty-free alternative to GIF, Portable Network Graphics (PNG for short) is a lossless file format supported by Photoshop that maintains the quality of your pictures even if you save them over and over after multiple edits.
This format also supports 256 levels of transparency, which is perfect for saving clean, clear images that have no backgrounds like logos, icons, and vector graphics.
Pros
- Supports 24?bit photos.
- Best for saving bugs, logos, and lower-third overlays.
- Handles Grayscale, RGB, Bitmap, and Indexed Color mode images without alpha channels.
Cons
- Does not support CMYK color mode.
PSD
PSD is the native Photoshop format that saves all the information of the image, which includes:
- Layers
- Masks
- Guides
- Channels
- Paths
This file format is divided into these five parts:
- File Header
- Color Mode Data
- Image Resolution
- Layer and Mask Information
- Image Data.
PSD is best for working on complex files where you need to keep editing and re-editing different elements of your image or graphics.
Pros
- Supports a maximum of 2GB file size with CMYK, Duotone, RGB, and LAB color spaces.
- Retains 30,000×30,000 pixels of image quality while exporting.
- Uploadable to Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, After Effect, and Premier while maintaining the Photoshop edits.
Cons
- Not compatible with non-Adobe software programs.
GIF
Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) is a common choice for many users who want to save simple animations and images with limited colors in Photoshop.
When you save the file in this format, it usually compresses the image by reducing the number of colors to 256 by creating a cLUT. The colors in the images are then remapped to match this limited palette, which is why you see the posterization effect in it.
Pros
- Supports basic transparency of 1 bit.
- Small file size suitable for quick online sharing.
- Best for plain text, line drawings, cartoon images, and pictures with single-color backdrops.
- Supports saving the image in animation and then playing it in a loop.
Cons
- Does not support the alpha channel, due to which the image edges look a bit rough.
PSB
Another file type supported by Adobe Photoshop is PSB (Large Document Format), an extension of PSD. It is ideal for saving high-resolution images you often see on billboards and posters.
Pros
- Supports 4 Exabytes or 300,000 pixels in any dimension.
- Best for HDR or 32-bits-per-channel images with more than 2GB file size.
- Keeps all the layers, masks, channels, guides, and paths secure so you can work on them later.
Cons
- Not supported by other image editing software programs like PhotoDirector Essential, Fotor, and Affinity Photo.
PDF is a cross-platform/application file format that many designers use in Photoshop to preserve the graphics (layout, fonts, vectors) in any image in the most precise way possible.
The gain here is that after the file is saved in PDF, you get optimum results for high-quality printing, viewing, or sharing.
Pros
- Handles high-color images with 16 bits per channel.
- Provides the option to preserve the Photoshop editing capabilities.
- Password protection for your files after saving them.
Cons
- Tends to generate a larger file size upon saving the project.
- Not ideal for online sharing.
TIFF
Adobe Photoshop also allows you to save the project file in Tagged-Image File Format (TIFF, TIF) format. It is a bitmap image file type that many photographers, graphic designers, and publishing industries use to retain the original detail of the photo and its color depth.
Pros
- Handles CMYK, Clipping paths, RBG, Lab, Indexed Color, and Grayscale with transparency of alpha channels.
- Supported by all page layout, painting, and image editing applications.
- Lets you save large files of up to 4GB sizes.
- Offers 8, 16, or 32-bit depth per channel.
Cons
- Displays a flattened image when opened in editing software other than Adobe Photoshop.
Steps On How To Save As Different Formats In Photoshop
Photoshop allows you to save your pictures and graphics for different purposes in various formats using two methods.
Method 1: Export As
The Export As option allows you to save your project in JPG, PNG, or GIF format.
Here are the steps:
- After editing your pictures, click File in the top left corner of the screen.
- Select Export and choose Export As from the menu or press ALT+SHIFT+CTRL+W.
- Choose the PNG, JPG, or GIF file format in the Export As dialog box.
- Set the File Size, Canvas Size, and Meta Data settings.
- Click Export to open the Save As window.
- Here, enter the file name, select a location where you want to save it and choose Save.
Method 2: Save As
With the Save As option, you can export your project as a PSD, PDF, or TIFF file.
Below are the steps for this process:
- Click File in the top left corner of the interface and select Save As or press CTRL+SHIFT+S on your keyboard.
- In the Save As window, set the file name and click the drop-down menu next to Save As Type.
- Now, select the PSD, PDF, or TIFF file format, select the folder on your PC, and click Save. For PDF and TIFF, a window dialog will open where you can set any necessary settings and click Save PDF or OK.
Conclusion
As we end this guide, you’ve learned about the most common file types with Photoshop, such as JPG, PNG, PSD, GIF, and others.
Hopefully, you now get the idea of selecting a file type to save your project for the best outcome according to your purpose.
