Short for Joint Photographic Experts Group, JPEG is probably the most popular and compatible image format. It is the standard file format of most of today's consumer-quality digital cameras and is supported by almost all of today's imaging software. It is a lossy compression technique for color images.  (Lossy compression technologies attempt to eliminate redundant or unnecessary information. Most video compression technologies use a lossy technique.) Although it can reduce files sizes to about five percent of their normal size, some detail is lost in the compression. JPEG is great for creating smaller file sizes for uploading on the internet or for use with e-mail. It's also a good choice because it's popular and likely to hang around for a long time.

TIFF is an acronym for tagged image file format, one of the most widely supported file formats for storing bit-mapped images on personal computers. TIFF graphics can be any resolution, and they can be black and white, gray-scaled or color. TIFF format is the standard for most commercial and professional printing needs. TIFF is a great choice for archiving images when all detail must be preserved and file size is not a consideration. TIFF files are very large in size compared to JPEGs (about 4 to 8 times larger), because no compression is used. TIFF is not supported by most photo-sharing websites, but is supported by most software.

Note: Our scanning services provide you with high-resolution, high-quality digital images. We use maximum-quality JPEG compression settings that provide you with high-quality images. We also use the uncompressed TIFF format, meaning that no data is lost during scanning. Each format has its unique benefits and is better suited for certain people or situations. For example, if you plan to edit your images, TIFF is probably the better choice. We don't charge more for one or the other. So the decision is yours.
 
We also support many additional video and animation, audio and photo and image formats. Click here to see what we support.