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Jon Cawston

JPEG, PNG, AI, EPS, what's the simple difference?

Updated: Aug 21

Image Comparison
Comparing Raster image quality to Vector image quality.

You may not know the difference between a vector graphic and a raster graphic, but I know your eye will tell you when it is not good. You and I know them as jaggy, those little squares trying to make a text, but it's not smooth and blurry.


Here is the simplest way that I can explain it.


In a Vector graphic, each word or graphic is made up of a line that creates the shape and then a fill, which is all of the inside portion of that word or graphic. When saved as an EPS file or an AI file (Adobe Illustrator), these two portions are saved together. When you expand or stretch the image, the line portion keeps the outside of that graphic smooth no matter what you do to it. Vector graphics would come from Illustrator or another type of app.


In a Raster Graphic, each word or graphic is made up of pixels, little square dots, that all together make up the final image. So when you see an image or graphic that says it's 1920 x 1080, it is made up of over 2 million dots. It's not a problem when you leave the image the same size. But in our case, when you are scaling up photos and or graphics that need to be 30' wide, then you have a problem because as you expand, each dot (square actually) gets larger, and there is no outline to keep it smooth. So the larger you go, the bigger the dot, the more you see the jaggies. Raster graphics would come from Photoshop, for example.


Some people have sent us a Photoshop file exported as an EPS thinking that file will work fine. But it was generated or created as a raster graphic, and changing the label doesn't change that.


If you use a jpg or png file in your artwork, we need that original photo sent to us. We will then scale that image up to many more dots in a software similar to Topaz Gigapix. That would be an image for 6 towers wide of 246". A software similar to that would help with the details and smooth out the jaggies as it was expanding.


The best image comes to us as a file built in Adobe Illustrator or a similar vector graphics app. We can resize that graphic to any size, and it looks fantastic.


Do not use a jpg or png file in your Illustrator file. It will become a jaggy even if you work with it in Illustrator. This software does not fix a graphic placed inside.


So think this...


Photos = Photoshop = Send us the largest original image possible.


Text, shapes, graphics = Illustrator = export as an AI or EPS file.


If you have both = create the text, shapes, and graphics in Illustrator and save



e them seperately. Then send the largest photo to us, and we will expand it to the largest size that fits your desired frame set. In this case, always send us a final image of the two put together.


If your file is really big, we can always send you a link to upload the graphic to us.

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