Logo design files come in a variety of formats – from JPEG, which you see almost every day, to CDR (CorelDraw), which you may not have seen in a while, if ever before. Here’s an overview of common logo file format types, and what you need to know about them to manage your logo design files.
Raster file types
Raster files, like JPEGs, are images – usually this format shows a thumbnail-sized image preview in your computer’s file manager. A raster file stores information in pixels – tiny squares arranged in a matrix that have a direct relationship with the medium where the image is viewed. Each pixel contains a display value (such as black) that is shown on an area of a computer screen, or on an area of the surface of a print medium. Some formats, like PNG, even support transparent pixels.
When you look at the properties of a raster file type, you’ll discover it has a size or dimension property. This property is expressed as X-by-X, which is the width-by-height pixel count of the image. Size is related to resolution: designers often talk about this property as resolution – “I need 1200×1500 resolution” – meaning that this is the digital image size they need to achieve the resolution they want for their final digital or print product.
Files like this – with pixels in them – come in different formats with different file extensions. The JPEG file format, one of the most popular, uses the extension .jpg. Other formats include GIF (.gif), and PNG (.png). All of them are classified as raster file formats.
Raster file formats for logo design
- JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
- GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
- PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
- BMP (Bitmap)
- TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
Here’s the most important thing to remember about raster files: If someone needs a copy of your logo file for a design, and you’re sending them a raster file, double check that the resolution or image size is high enough for what they need. You can check the resolution by looking at the properties of the file itself for something that looks like X-by-X. In Windows Explorer, for example, you would follow these steps:
- Right click on the image file in the file manager
- Choose the Properties menu item
- Choose the Details tab
- Find the section entitled Image
- Look for the value given for Dimensions
Typically, with raster files, the higher the resolution, the larger the file size.
Vector logo design files
Vector files are second common file type for logos. Unlike raster files, vectors are not display-ready images, and may not show a thumbnail preview in a file manager. However, this type of file is preferred by designers. Why? Because a designer can do almost anything they need to with a vector file, provided they have the design software to work with the particular file type. Business owners, on the other hand, may not have the right design software to open their logo file if it’s in vector format, and may not even be able to view the file.
Vector files aren’t images at all – they’re a set of instructions for creating an image. Designers don’t talk about resolution when they work with vector files because they can make the image as big (or as small) as they like, at whatever resolution they choose.
The important thing to remember about vector files is that you don’t need to worry about resolution – a designer can open this file, make changes, and print it at any size. However, you may want to give a detailed file name to your vector file, especially if you don’t have the design software to see what it looks like.
Vector file formats for logo design
- SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
- CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile)
- EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)
- PDF (Portable Document Format)
- AI (Adobe Illustrator)
- CDR (CorelDRAW)
There are hundreds of file formats in use. Some work as both vector and raster types, and some are neither. If you have a logo design file that you can open in an image viewer, it’s probably a raster file. If you’re looking at a vector file extension, or something unfamiliar, know that you don’t necessarily need a particular software program to open it. For example, Adobe CS allows an import of CorelDRAW files, and vice versa. A quick search on the file extension will tell you what the file type is, and what kind of software you need to look at it.