File formats, made simple
Guides, comparisons and how-tos about file formats and conversion — in plain language, with no fluff and real takeaways.
Use CasesTGA in Games and Graphics: Where Targa Lives Today
Where TGA lives today: game textures in Unreal and Unity, sprites, frame sequences for video and VFX, retro graphics. Why engines still love Targa…
ComparisonTGA vs PNG: Which to Choose and Why
TGA vs PNG: both are lossless and support transparency, but they differ in size, compression, compatibility and alpha-texture edges. When to choose…
Deep DiveThe Future of JPEG XL: Why the Format Sparks So Much Debate
Why JPEG XL sparks so much debate: the browser-support saga from Chrome dropping the flag to the Rust comeback, Mozilla's stance, Safari, PDF, and…
Deep DiveThe Netpbm Family: PBM, PGM, PPM and Magic Numbers P1–P6
The Netpbm family explained: how PBM, PGM, PPM, PNM and PAM differ, what the P1–P6 magic numbers mean, and the difference between the plain (ASCII)…
Format BasicsWhat Is APNG? The Animated PNG That Beats GIF
What is APNG (Animated PNG): animation with millions of colors and full transparency, backward compatibility with PNG, and why it beats GIF. A clea…
Format BasicsWhat Is Base64? How an Image Turns Into a String of Text
What Base64 and data URIs really are, in plain English: how an image becomes a string of letters and digits, the A–Z a–z 0–9 + / alphabet, and why…
Format BasicsWhat Is DjVu? The Format That Compresses Scanned Books Better Than PDF
What is the DjVu (.djvu) format: how it splits a scan into three layers and compresses a book page 5–10× smaller than PDF. The AT&T Labs history an…
Format BasicsWhat Is JPEG 2000? The JP2 Format Explained in Plain English
What is JPEG 2000 (JP2): how wavelet compression replaces DCT blocks, how the format differs from regular JPEG, what .jp2/.j2k/.jpx mean, and where…
Format BasicsWhat Is JPEG XL? A Guide to the Most Ambitious Image Format
What is JPEG XL (JXL): why this new image format exists, how it beats old JPEG, how lossless compression, HDR, transparency and animation work. A c…
Format BasicsWhat Is PPM? The Image Format You Can Open in Notepad
What is the PPM (Portable Pixmap) format from the Netpbm family: why it stores pixels with no compression, how the plain P3/P6 text header works, a…
Format BasicsWhat Is TGA? A Guide to the Truevision Targa Format with Alpha
What is the TGA (Truevision Targa) format: why it was created in 1984, how its 18-byte header works, where its alpha channel came from, and why gra…
Format BasicsWhat Is XCF? GIMP's Project Format in Plain English
What is the XCF format: why it is GIMP's project file, what it stores — layers, masks, channels, paths — and how XCF fundamentally differs from PNG…