File format decision tree

This is a small decision tree to help with the best file format for each occasion. It is half serious and half tongue-in-cheek, and it minimizes the importance of SVG, but it's a good approach on how the decision should be:

Only use BMP when playing with MS Paint

Here is a description of when to use each format (as promised in the alt text):

• BMP: when your kids are playing with MS Paint.
• TIFF: for large professional designs and photographs.
• GIF: if it moves.
• SVG: if it moves and/or if it is vectorial.
• AVIF: if having a small file size is key.
• WEBP: if having a small file size is key... and you care about support.
• PNG: any other case when transparency is needed.
• JPG: any other case.

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And here it is the same decision tree, edited (with MSPaint maybe?) to show how the file format process goes in reality:

...or just use PNG for everything...

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On a more serious note, AVIF looks like a promising format. Here, an interesting article where Jake Archibald compared AVIF with other formats: SVG, PNG, JPG, and WEBP.

Comments

[Aleksandr Hovhannisyan]

Fun fact: You can have WebP GIFs, too! Google ships not only cwebp but also gif2webp; the latter can convert any GIF to an animated webp image :)

[Khang]

A great explanation concept 😊

[lamka02sk]

Just please don't use GIF. A normal mp4 h264 video is smaller and better quality than GIF.