Section 12 · Output & Production

File Types & Export Formats

Definition

The container a file is saved in, which determines what it can hold: layers, transparency, color mode, and whether its compression throws data away.

PSD — Photoshop’s working format. Keeps layers, masks, adjustment layers, and editable type. A file to keep working in, not a file to hand off.
TIFF — lossless and print-safe. Supports CMYK, high bit depth, and (optionally) layers. The traditional choice for a finished raster image going to a printer or an archive.
PNG — lossless and RGB-only, with full transparency. Suited to screen graphics with flat color, sharp edges, text, or a transparent background.
JPG — lossy and RGB, with no transparency or layers. Very small files for photographs on screen; every re-save discards a little more data.

Why it matters

The format decides what survives the save. Saving a layered composite as JPG flattens it permanently; sending a PNG to a print shop delivers RGB when the job needed CMYK; re-saving a JPG through several rounds of edits degrades it a little each time. None of these show up as an error — they show up later, as a file you can’t edit or a print that looks wrong.

Example

One poster, four files: poster_v06.psd as the layered working file, poster_print.tif flattened in CMYK for the printer, poster_web.jpg at a moderate quality setting for the portfolio site, and poster_logo.png with a transparent background for placing the mark elsewhere.

Note

The habit worth building is working format versus delivery format. Always keep the layered PSD (or native file) as the source, and export everything else from it. A JPG is an end point; once the layered original is gone, so is the ability to change anything.

Choose by asking three questions in order: Does it need to stay editable? (PSD.) Is it going to print? (TIFF or PDF.) Is it going to a screen — and does it need transparency or crisp flat edges (PNG) or is it a photograph where file size matters (JPG)?