Research Into File Types

This might seem like a waste of time, but I'm going to be handling quite a few different types of files whilst working in Unreal Engine, Photoshop, Asesprite, Pixil.com and probably many more such as PNG image files and JPEG files. Below is a look into what each of the files qualities are as well as how they can be opened and their best uses.

PNG

Acording to Adobe, the PNG file is often used on websites as they have a high quality appearance. PNG files offer a large palette of vibrant colours alongside lossless compression that can keep down the file sizes, helping cut back on the risk of running out of space to store projects like my own, where many different PNGs and image files will be needed. The PNG is capable of a mind boggling 16 million colours, even if I don't need that many for pixel art, it's a very nice feature to have. Despite being a competitor to the GIF, the PNG is not capable of any movement and is instead a still image, an image with a massive degree of quality as well as not being patented, meaning the file type can be opened in various softwares.

This image format, perhaps most importantly, is able to have a transparent background, important for things like sprites that need to have the background visible behind them. Most likely, PNGs will be used for all if not the majority of the pixel art alongside UI designs if there are any.

Positives -

• Large colour palette of 16 million

• High quality with lossless compression

• Not being patented means it can be used in any software

• Has a transparent background

Negatives -

• Quite a lot larger in size than a jpeg

• Can be difficult to print

• Often slow to load due to high file sizes

JPEG

The JPEG image file is seen as the bread and butter of image files, they have low storage through compression and can run on practically anything. Strangely enough, these files can have various endings, the list can be seen below.

• .jpg

• .jpeg

• .jpe

• .jif

• .jfif

• .jfi

The compression of JPEG images can reduce the image quality substantially, the main benefit of course being the need for less storage space for each file as well as easier send and load speeds. JPEG also supports 24 bit colour, this is the same as the PNG file and so you can expect just as vibrant and accurate colourings. 

positives -

• Small file size

• Universal recognition means pretty much every app or computer can open them

• Lossy compression targets colours that aren't noticed as much by the human eye to lower file sizes but keep most of the images quality

Negatives -

• Lossy compression (unlike lossless compression) lowers the image quality from minorly to majorly

• Losing quality can mean blockier colour transitions and so a posterised look

GIF

Gifs are commonly used for graphics and logos, their ability to handle simple animations makes this file type good for both images and short animations with a massive amount of versatility. Unfortunately, the GIF file type has a max colour range of 8 bits or 256 individual colours, this can massively harm the quality of the image or animation. 

GIF files are often used for internet memes and during online conversations, due to this, most modern computers and smartphones are able to play and often even make gifs very easily.

positives -

• Quick to make and easy to spread on social media

• Quick to load due to small file sizes from the limited colour variation

• Lossless compression thankfully stops the loss of any more quality

Negatives -

• The small palette of 256 different colours means that images can look blurry or just generally off

• They can be tricky to edit

• Struggle to load with slow internet despite being small files

Conclusion

In conclusion, the loss of the quality in a JPEGand the inability to have a truly transparent background means that the file is not suitable for the things I need for this project, including pixel sprites, characters and environments. Instead of the use of JPEG, PNG files would be a much better alternative. This is because that file type would be able to show the sprites the game uses in full quality with fully transparent backgrounds. 

Even though I won't use any JPEG files, I believe I could make use of GIFS to have subtle background animations play or perhaps have things like tv's loop the same video in a level, this is doubtful as I could just use a png turned into a flipbook by PaperZD in Unreal Engine 5 instead, this would have a much larger amount of quality and would allow me to maintain uniformity with nearly every asset being a PNG file.