GIF versus JPEG

GIF JPEG

lossless compression

good compression for line art, icons

"transparent" backgrounds (example)

interlaced and progressive display

allows simple animations

256 colors max

lossy (variable) compression

excellent compression for photos

16.7 million colors

Notes:

GIF	JPEG
lossless compression good compression for line art, icons "transparent" backgrounds (example) interlaced and progressive display allows simple animations 256 colors max	lossy (variable) compression excellent compression for photos 16.7 million colors

Both formats are raster image formats, and are resolution-specific.
Different web browsers use different color allocation algorithms

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