What Is The Difference Between JPEG And PDF?
Many people have asked the same question repeatedly: What is the difference between JPEG and PDF? Both are the file formats usually used to share files like images, etc. both have their quality standards. In this article, you will learn some of the JPEG file formats and the PDF file format with their differences.
Let us first understand the basics of both file formats. If you understand their basics, you can quickly point out the differences.
Table of Contents
What is JPEG or JPG file format?
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is the name of the organization that developed this image file format. When you save an image in the JPEG file format, some data connected with the image is lost forever. When some data is lost, the file size reduces and makes it easy to store more images.
The primary use of the JPEG or the JPG file format is to do compression of digital images. You can adjust the size of compression of the digital images. Digital photographs result from digital photography, and the JPEG file format allows you to trade-off between the file size and the image quality.
The JPEG file format is famous because of its size reduction feature. Most modern cameras also have this feature to save space on the card if you want to keep the file size low to avoid excessive storage occupation, compromising your image quality, and vice versa. The bigger the image size, the better the quality and vice versa.
The files stored in the JPEG file format have a file extension named.jpeg or .jpg. The JPEG file format supports files with a size of four gigapixels for the aspect ratio of 1:1. The images or files above four gigapixels are beyond the scope of JPEG or JPG file format.
What is a PDF file format?
PDF stands for Portable document format. A pdf file can be a document, an image, a video, etc. It keeps the file in its original size and makes it impossible to change the pdf file format. If you want to edit a pdf file, first convert it to an editable word document. Other than avoiding modification, it becomes easy to share the pdf files.
PDF is the most reliable file format currently available. It preserves your files’ actual nature and sizing and shows the exact similar image, paragraphs, logos, etc. as you have saved. It also has better readability when we talk about articles or paragraphs.
When opened in MS word, if your hand or cursor touches any line by mistake, it starts editing it. But in PDF, you can freely move your cursor without worrying about the original content.
It also has a benefit over MS word when it comes to printing. MS word often distorts or changes various aspects of the document’s arrangement while printing. Still, as described earlier, PDF never changes even a bit of your document and gets it printed in the same way as you have saved.
Differences between PDF and JPEG:
Addressing the same question again, what is the difference between PDF and JPEG? So following are some of the common differences between the PDF and JPEG file formats.
- PDF is used to send digital images, text, videos, etc., to retain their originality and display the concerned file’s content. On the other hand, the primary use of the JPEG file format is to compress the size of the image by deleting some of its data. It transfers the digital images with compromised quality or compromised size.
- The use of PDF is mainly to send texts and graphic images. Alternatively, the JPEG file format sends the web page visuals and still images. The launch of the JPEG file format was the result of the limitations of the .gif file format.
Comparison table between JPEG and PDF:
Parameter of comparison |
PDF file format | JPEG file format |
Abbreviation | Portable document file | Joint Photogenic Experts Group |
Created by | Research and development team of Adobe systems | Researchers of the international organization for standardization (ISO) |
Used for | Used to Send texts, images, videos, 3D objects, digital signatures, other data formats, etc. | Sending still images and web page visuals |
Image size | It preserves the standard image size, and no change occurs | It compresses the image to save the storage space |
Image Quality | High image quality persists | Lowers the image quality |
Suitability for printing | Highly suitable and preferred for the printing purposes | Not suitable and not preferred for the printing purposes |
What is the highest quality image format, PDF, or JPEG?
If you want to preserve the original size of your image, PDF file format is the best option. It doesn’t degrade your image quality as it claims to be the highest quality image format. Instead, the JPEG format is famous because of its size reduction feature. When it reduces the size of your image, some crucial data of your image gets deleted.
Thus, the image becomes smaller, but your image’s quality also distorts and gets compromised. Moreover, the JPEG file format can only store a maximum image size of four gigapixels, whereas the PDF can store far larger sizes.
Main differences between JPEG and PDF?
Here are some of the main variances between the PDF and the JPEG file formats.
- You can use both file formats to send your images and graphics, but the PDF formats have higher quality than the JPEG standards.
- JPEG format allows you to send an image after a size reduction, whereas the PDF format enables you to send images in standard size.
- PDF format is more versatile than JPEG file format because JPEG file format cannot contain texts like the PDF format.
- You can edit files in PDF format using any conversion software, but you can’t edit any JPEG file using any software due to the reduced image quality.
Do you want to make your JPG file to PDF or want to know how to convert JPG to PDF?
let’s check the video-
VIDEO Source: Kevin Stratvert
Conclusion:
Most people don’t even know the meaning of JPEG and PDF file formats and keep using JPEG. In contrast, the PDF file format avoids the quality issues of your images to share them and preserve their original sizes for editing purposes.
And hopefully, after reading this article, you can confidently answer, what is the difference between PDF and JPEG?