Photo File Formats

Choosing the right format is half the battle: lossy for delivery, lossless for masters, raw for capture, DNG for archive. The 2024–2026 inflection point is JPEG-XL gaining traction (Apple ProRAW + iOS 17 + DNG support pushing it forward) alongside the now-mature AVIF / HEIC. For format-conversion pipelines see Image Editing and Photo Watermark & Batch; for raw decoding see Photo Raw SDKs.

Lossy delivery formats

• ★ JPEG — universal compatibility; quality plateau ~quality 85; chroma-subsampled YCbCr; about 0.5–1.0 bpp at quality 85. Default until proven wrong.
• ★ AVIF (AV1 still image) — royalty-free, ~30–50% smaller than JPEG at equal quality, supports HDR + 12-bit + transparency. Browser support ubiquitous in 2026 (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge). Slow to encode.
• ★ WebP — Google; ~25–34% smaller than JPEG; supports lossless mode and animation. Universal browser support. Older than AVIF; encodes faster; AVIF wins on quality but WebP is still used for compatibility + speed.
• HEIC / HEIF (HEVC still image) — Apple's default since iOS 11; small, high-quality. Patent-encumbered; not widely supported on web.
• JPEG-XL (JXL) — emerging; royalty-free; lossless re-encode of legacy JPEG (~20% smaller, no quality loss); also has a quality-vs.-size advantage over AVIF for photographic content. Apple shipping support in iOS 17 / macOS 14+ (2023–2026); browsers slow (Chrome dropped support in 2023, Safari has it). Strong archival case.
• JPEG 2000 (JP2) — exists; legal / archival use only; never went mainstream.
• JPEG-XR (HD Photo / Microsoft) — defunct; ignore.

Lossless / master formats

• ★ TIFF — universal; 16-bit + 32-bit float supported; lossless ZIP / LZW / Deflate compression. The pro working master format; large files. Most raw developers export 16-bit TIFF.
• ★ PSD / PSB — Adobe Photoshop; lossless layered; PSD up to 30 K × 30 K, PSB beyond. The compositing master format.
• PNG — lossless; 8 + 16-bit; alpha channel; web-native; no metadata richness. Good for screenshots / line art / illustrations; not photographic compression.
• DNG (lossless) — Adobe's open raw archive format; can also store rendered lossless 16-bit RGB.
• JPEG-XL (lossless mode) — emerging; lossless re-encoding shrinks legacy JPEGs and TIFFs significantly. Watch this for archive in 2025–2027.
• OpenEXR — film / VFX; HDR float; not stills-photographer-flavored but useful for HDR mastering.

Raw formats (vendor-specific)

• CR3 (Canon) — modern Canon mirrorless / DSLR. ISO base.
• CR2 (Canon, older) — pre-2018 Canon DSLRs.
• NEF / NRW (Nikon) — NEF is the standard, NRW is for some Coolpix.
• ARW / SR2 (Sony) — Alpha mirrorless / DSLR.
• RAF (Fujifilm) — X / GFX bodies; X-Trans demosaic is unique.
• ORF (Olympus / OM System) — OM-D / Pen / OM-1.
• RW2 (Panasonic) — Lumix S / G.
• PEF / DNG (Pentax) — Pentax wrote DNG natively early.
• 3FR (Hasselblad) — sometimes wrapped to DNG by Phocus.
• IIQ (Phase One) — medium format; Capture One native.
• DJI raw — DNG with drone-specific OpcodeList.

Universal raw archive

• ★ DNG (Adobe Digital Negative) — Adobe's open spec (ISO 12234-2); supports all sensor data + metadata + JPEG preview + Camera Profile; converts vendor raws to a single open container. Used natively by Pentax, Leica, Pixel, Apple ProRAW, DJI, Hasselblad-via-Phocus. Convert with Adobe DNG Converter (free) for archival peace of mind.

Camera-specific computational

• Apple ProRAW — DNG variant; Apple iPhone Pro models since 12 Pro; embeds computational pipeline output alongside sensor data. ~25 MB per file.
• Pixel computational DNG — Google Pixel; similar idea.
• DJI raws — DNGs with embedded lens-correction opcodes.

Animation / sequence

• Animated WebP / AVIF / GIF — for short loops; AVIF wins on quality, WebP on compatibility, GIF only for retro.
• APNG — animated PNG; niche.
• MP4 / WebM — for real video sequences; see Realtime Video and Photo Time-lapse.

Color / bit depth

• 8-bit — JPEG, basic PNG/TIFF; 256 levels per channel; banding-prone in shadows.
• 10-bit — HEIC, HDR JPEG, AVIF; 1,024 levels.
• 12-bit — many raws; AVIF; very banding-resistant.
• 14–16-bit — most raws; TIFF working masters; deepest ProRes / cinema sources.
• 32-bit float — HDR composite (32-bit TIFF, OpenEXR); merged HDR; never delivered to users.

Choosing per use case

• Final web export — JPEG quality 82–88, sRGB, EXIF-stripped (or AVIF / WebP for the same image with <picture> fallback).
• Print export — 16-bit TIFF or 8-bit JPEG quality 95+, AdobeRGB or print-paper ICC, full metadata.
• Master file — 16-bit TIFF or PSD; keep alongside the raw.
• Raw archive — keep vendor raw + sidecar XMP. Optionally re-save as DNG for "decade-from-now" insurance.
• Phone delivery — HEIC for Apple, JPEG for cross-platform. AVIF for web.

What's changing in 2024–2026

• JPEG-XL momentum — Apple's broad support is the inflection. Lossless re-encode of JPEG archives looks increasingly attractive.
• AVIF on the web is mature — Chrome / Firefox / Safari all support it; CDNs auto-serve via Accept header.
• HEIC stuck on Apple-only ecosystem — patent encumbrance keeps it off the web.
• DNG still the safest archival raw — every major DAM and developer reads it.
• Computational raw normalization — Apple ProRAW + Pixel raw now standard; tools handle them as DNG.
• C2PA Content Credentials — embedded in JPEG / TIFF / DNG; provenance metadata growing in importance.

Pick this if…

• Default web image: AVIF with WebP and JPEG fallback via <picture>.
• Web compatibility, single format: JPEG quality 85, sRGB.
• Master file: 16-bit TIFF (or PSD if layered).
• Raw archive: vendor raw + XMP sidecar; re-save as DNG every few years for safety.
• Apple ecosystem delivery: HEIC.
• Future-proof archival lossless: start experimenting with JPEG-XL in 2026.
• Universal raw container: DNG.