IBM Document Imaging. AFP documents are generated by IBM's document management systems in a proprietary format. They are complex document types fitting in IBM's MO:DCA document family and are used by insurance, banking, and financial businesses.

Grayscale - 8 bits per pixel
color - 24 bits per pixel

Palettized color files in the 1- to 16-bit range are converted to 8-bit palettized or 24-bit unpalettized. By default, they are converted to 24-bit only if the palette contains more than 256 colors.

Unpalettized color files (RGB, ARGB, or CMYK) with 1 to 16 bits per plane are converted to 24-bit RGB.

DXF (Drawing Interchange Format) was first introduced by AutoDesk AutoCAD, and is one of the most widely used CAD/CAM/CAE formats in the world. DXF is very popular and is supported by most 3D applications on PC platforms.

A DXF file is an ASCII file containing 2D and 3D components representing a drawing. Those components are known as Entities. The DXF file can represent almost any CAD drawing using those entities, and can connect a group of entities together (such as windows, doors, etc) and use them later in the file. The DXF file has seen many changes through the years, from version 2.6 to the latest release version 14. However, the latest release of AutoCAD still manages to open files created with any of the earlier versions.

AutoImager supports all current variations of the DXF format (versions 2.6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) with the following entities: 3DFACE, 3DSOLID, ARC, CIRCLE, ELLIPSE, INSERT, LINE, LWPOLYLINE, MTEXT, POINT, POLYLINE, SOLID, TEXT, and TRACE in full 2D or 3D DXF files. You can load any of the DXF files as either vector images or raster images.

PostScript Raster (Encapsulated PostScript). These files are used primarily on PostScript printers. These printers usually offer more variety of fonts and higher resolution than standard laser printers. EPS files will work on any PostScript compatible printer and any application that supports placement of EPS files in its work space.

The image that you read from an EPS file can be either a PostScript raster image, an embedded TIFF image, or an embedded WMF image. The image that you write to an EPS file is always a PostScript raster image.

Exif is a standard for image files created with digital cameras and other input devices. The standard is set by the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association, and formally it is called the Digital Still Camera Image File Format Standard.

Exif files contain either uncompressed TIFF images or compressed JPEG images. AutoImager reads and writes the following Exif formats:

PhotoCD (PCD). This is a common high-resolution format for images on CD-ROM. An image file can contain one or more physical resolutions, with fixed dimensions. You can choose which resolution to load, and thus control the size of the resulting bitmap.

FlashPix (FPX). The FlashPix file format was developed through the combined efforts of Eastman Kodak Company, Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, and Live Picture Inc. It combines the best features of existing formats with object orientation to make the use of digital color images easier.

The format of a FlashPix file is based on compound object storage, which allows storage of various kinds of data. A FlashPix file may consist of several "pages" where each "page" has storage for a source image, non-image data in the form of comments, transform data, and a stamp or thumbnail. Each image is stored as an entire multi-resolution hierarchy where each resolution in the hierarchy differs from the next highest resolution by a factor of 2 in the x dimension and in the y dimension. Non-image data are treated as comments in FlashPix file format. Comments are used to store information pertaining to the image, not actual pixel data. This information may include image title, image subject, camera manufacturer, scan software version number, and so forth. In addition to the image itself, FlashPix files store transform information. This data indicates transformations which may be performed on the source image. By storing the transforms, the source image may be stored in its original state and transformed, using the stored transforms, at your discretion. A stamp, or thumbnail, provides a small bitmap representation of a FlashPix image. If a FlashPix file has been created using a single resolution image, the thumbnail is optional.

The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) File Interchange Format was developed for storing photographic and photo-realistic images. This format is one of the most efficient storage methods, but has some disadvantages. The term JPEG describes the type of compression used for the data, but does not describe how the compressed data is sorted and stored. Calling JFIF "JPEG" is like calling a Ford Falcon "internal combustion." There are many variations in how the data is is sorted and stored; these variations greatly affect the resulting image display and file size.

As JPEG compresses the data, JPEG throws some of it away. This process is called lossy compression. You can set how lossy you want your JFIFs to be; 100% quality produces almost exactly the same result as the original picture, but results a large, uncompressed file. 10% quality results in smaller file, but looks dodgy. You must decide what percentage is best for your image.

Images with monochrome colors or simple art, such as flow charts, can lose significant quality if you do not set the appropriate options when you save them as JPEG files. To set these options, click the Processing Options command on the Options menu. You can then click General on the Set Options dialog box. You can select the Save as Lossless JPEG checkbox. Otherwise, setting the JPEG Output Quality to a high value produces better results.

JFIF, the JPEG File Interchange Format, can store up to 24 bit color; so JFIF is suitable for professional use. JFIF supports interlaced display like GIF; this is sometimes called progressive JFIF. This attribute, along with small file sizes, makes JFIF the standard format for Web graphics. Like GIF, JFIF is a data-stream format; you can view images before your computer obtains all the data.

Progressive JPEG is a variation of the JPEG compression format that is intended for situations involving low-bandwidth. This format is useful for transmitting images, because the first part of the file contains the full dimensions of the image. Therefore, you can display the whole image and then progressively clarify it as the rest of the file loads. You can watch the image display in progressive increments and can elect to stop the display. This format sometimes results in a smaller image.

The following list describes the details for JPG formats that AutoImager supports:

• JPEG - AutoImager supports JPEG formats with YUV 4:2:2 sampling. You can save any image size. Grayscale is not supported.
• Lossy JFIF - AutoImager supports YUV 4:4:4, 4:2:2, and 4:1:1 color spacing, and YUV 4:0:0 for grayscale.
• Lossless JFIF - AutoImager supports 8 and 16-bit grayscale and 24-bit color spacing.
• Progressive JPEG - AutoImager supports YUV 4:4:4, 4:2:2, and 4:1:1 color spacing, and YUV 4:0:0 for grayscale.
• Lossy JTIF - This is the JPEG Tagged Interchange Format. AutoImager supports YUV 4:4:4, 4:2:2, and 4:1:1 color spacing, and YUV 4:0:0 for grayscale.
• Lossless JTIF - This is the JPEG Tagged Interchange Format. AutoImager supports 8 and 16-bit grayscale and 24-bit color spacing.
  

• MacPaint (MAC). These Macintosh Paint files are commonly used for monochrome clip art.
• GEM Image (IMG). These files are native to the Graphical Environment Manager developed by Digital Research.
• Microsoft Paint (MSP). These files from early versions of Windows are used for black-and-white drawings and clip art.

This is the name for the Tagged Image File Format. AutoImager reads and writes several TIFF formats that do not require an LZW license. TIFF is a tag-based file format designed to promote universal interchanges of digital image data. Because TIFF files do not have a single way to store image data, there are many versions of TIFF.

AutoImager supports all the versions of TIFF formats. The most commonly-used file extensions are TIF for single-image files, and MPT for multipage files. Multi-page files can contain many images. AutoImager processes TIFF files using all common color spaces. AutoImager also reads files with PackBits compression.

LZW and uncompressed TIFFs: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 24, 32 bits per pixel

LZW compressed TIFFs -
CMYK color space: 24 bits per pixel
YCbCr color space: 24 bits per pixel

Formats commonly used in FAX transmissions:
• TIFF CCITT. These are compressed TIFF files that are commonly used for FAX transmission and document imaging.
• TIFF CCITT Group 3. These are TIFF CCITT files in a format that is more advanced and more compressed than TIFF CCITT. AutoImager supports both 1-dimension and 2-dimension variations of this format.
• TIFF CCITT Group 4. These are TIFF CCITT files in a format that is more advanced and more compressed than TIFF CCITT Group 3.
• CALS Raster. (Type 1, 2, 3 and 4) These are CCITT Group 4 CALS raster files. CALS is a United States government standard.
• IOCA (ICA). This is the Image Object Content Architecture developed by IBM. AutoImager supports these files in an MO:DCA wrapper with embedded 1-bit CCITT Group 3 or Group 4 images. AutoImager also supports IOCA files without an MO:DCA wrapper.
• WinFax Group 3. This is a FAX format created by Delrina for Group 3 support.
• WinFax Group 4. This is a FAX format created by Delrina for Group 4 support.
• FAX Group 3. This is a raw FAX format (without a header) for Group 3 support. AutoImager supports both 1-dimension and 2-dimension variations of this format.
• FAX Group 4. This is a raw FAX format (without a header) for Group 4 support.
• AWD. (WIN32 only) This is a Microsoft FAX format.

The Windows Metafile formats are vector formats that may or may not also contain a raster image.

EMF/WMF Vector files can be read and written as either raster or vector.