In order to put our fractals on the web or send them via email, we want to make the file size as small as possible without compromising the beauty of the image... The more complex or the more colors used in a fractal, the larger the file size will be - we are then forced to make a smaller file bit wise in order to keep the file size down to an acceptable level... There are several ways to achieve the file size with the desired image effects: Reduce the resolution Reduce the number of colors in the image palette Use a format that compresses the file Use compression after the file is saved       For now, this page discusses using different file formats and on the next few pages you will see examples of each main type of format used for the web (except BMP which is not used on the web but is on this page as the control image)...       There are other file formats such as TIFF which is excellent for use when you want to print the image since color and printing information is not lost when saved (this is called "lossless compression")... A "lossy compression" format, such as JPG, means that some of the data that makes up the image is lost during the save proces - for instance, several different levels of a color may be lost... Usually this is not noticable until you start to severely compress the image...       The GIF format has only 256 colors in it whereas JPG can have millions of colors... So, if you have an image with a lot of colors it is best not to use this format... However, if you have to have an invisible background or section of your image, this is the way to go... Just remember, if you have an image that is black and white or limited in it's color, GIF is often a good choice since it uses a type of compression called "LZW compression" which is similar to lossless compession (certain image information is not lost)...       If you have a black and white image, you may consider changing the image into grayscale and reduce the bit depth to 8 bits (which will give you 256 shades of gray which is more than a printer can print and still gives a sharp visual image on the screen...       Another thought when saving your image is to interlace it... There are several examples below (GIF format, PNG can also be interlaced but there is no example on this page)... They may not be overly noticable in what interlacing is but you can see there is definitely a noticeable difference between the interlaced and non-interlaced images... An interlaced image is an image that was saved in a certain way so that it will show up on the screen little by little either by a curtain effect or as little dots that slowly take shape... The reason for this effect is so that people watch the image unfold as it loads instead of sitting there staring at a blank image area until the image is fully loaded (which is what happens with a JPG image) - the hope is that the person will stay with the page and not get impatient and leave... This is especially good for large images... However, it will often (but not always) increase the file size... On the other hand, the person gets the feeling the page is loading quicker when it really is not - so, it's a catch 22 as to whether or not to use it... After all the above is said and done, the basic rule of thumb when saving a graphic is: If there are lots of colors use JPG If there are few colors, large areas of solid colors, or B&W use GIF Saving with Many Colors page Saving in Black and White page Saving with Big Color Areas page