According to Rkenshin you can still lose information with PNG. I tried unsucessfully to convince him as I've sworn by this file format since the beginning of my computing days.
I would still like Rkenshin to tell us why PNG is inferior to bitmaps. As far as I'm concerned, PNG is a lossless compromise between quality and filesize.
I haven't used Tiff before, but I hear they are good. Ryan Bliss of Digital Blasphemy uses png. Krash of Deviant Art uses tiff. I'll have to do some research and experiments.
.png is a lossless format that supports up to 24-bit colour with an 8-bit alpha layer. will also do 256 colours with 1 bit alpha like .gif, but no animation abilities.
.jpg is a lossy format that is purely 24-bit and has no transparency.
If you may have noticed, most wall changers convert images to bmp because windoze in designed for them. The use less resources. It's best to use a changer since it does this for you automatically.
Bmp is too large to practically download. jpg, png, gif, and tiff are all much smaller. Sometimes a zipped bmp is small emough, but not always. jpg and gif can be walls but only through active desktop, which can EAT resources. Jpg has started to piss me off because I've learn to single out the "artifacts" (the little light pixels that are usually around edges). Gif only has 256 colors... not enough. That leaves png and tiff. Both losses, but you need to test sizes sometimes.
Jpg's also degrigate. Each time you edit/resize/recolor them, they loose quality. Overtime, they look horrible. If I really like a wall, I contact the artist and ask for a png. Usually they are so complimented they help me out.
so there is it. png is the best. and to add.. i really though i saw that png could support up to 48bit color or something.. i dont know maybe i was just wanting to say something bc you guys are right.. jpg isnt nice with all the mess...and png.. a little bigger.. a lot better qual
jpeg is easier for for people to impulsively set the wpaper as their wall, which I like. At home it's only bmp, cause active desk when I'm using windoz blows hot honey chunks.
-++I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams ... glitter in the dark near Tannhauser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost ... in time, like tears ... in rain. Time ... to die.++-
in ps, i think, there are a lot of setting when saving to png, if u use an image with a lot of subtile gradients, and save it with all the different options, when saving 2 png, and compare those gradient regeons next 2 each-other, you'll sometimes notice a difference, but very small...
Usually I upload 2048x1536 px WP - high resolution jpegs with no compression ... so it can be used for publishing purposes. Of course only with my permission ...
i never use bmp for resource, if so,i would like to keep it in .psd .ai or anyother source format. for wallpaper, png is good choice, never loss and never have any difference compared to bmp by HUMAN eyes. jpeg is also good looin if in best quality(12)
but never mind ,if you save a blank white wallpaper, any format is same :P
