PNG vs. JPG
I’ve long thought that PNG has been an underused format, especially among designers who should know better. This illustration explains the strengths of the PNG format quite well.
The one thing that it doesn’t mention is that PNG is the only common (web) image format that supports 8-bit transparency. GIF only supports 1-bit transparency (transparent or opaque). So if you want a non-rectangular shape with a transparent background or a nice smooth drop shadow around the edges, PNG is the format for the job.
I’ve actually always used PNG from the early days. It seems that it compresses better in Flash than a JPG does. Although for filesize, I prefer loading JPGs when loading images dynamically.
Comment by Chris L — November 13, 2008 @ 1:21 pm