Section 77. Convert Between Image Formats

77. Convert Between Image Formats

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

74 Import Photos from a Digital Camera

75 Scan In Photos

SEE ALSO

78 Change Photo Resolution and Size

Pictures come in a wide variety of image formatsthere are literally dozens of them, including JPG, GIF, BMP, TIF, PCX, and many others. But when you post pictures on the Web, you can only use the JPG, GIF, or PNG format.

But what if you have a picture in a non-web-friendly format such as PCX and want to use it on the Web? You can convert the image from any format to a web-friendly one. That's what you'll learn in this task.

1.	Download and Install IrfanView The best way to convert files between different formats is to use the free program IrfanView, which lets you view graphics files, convert them between formats, and has some basic image-editing tools, as well. It's one of the best all-around graphics utilities you can find, and it's free to download and use. To download it, go to www.irfanview.com, click the Download link, and follow the instructions for downloading. After you download it, follow the instructions for installing it. 77. Convert Between Image Formats
2.	Run IrfanView After you install IrfanView, open it by double-clicking its desktop icon, or by clicking the Start button, choosing All Programs , and then choosing IrfanView from the menu.
3.	Open the File You Want to Convert Choose File, Open from the menu, navigate to the folder that has the file you want to convert, and then double-click the file. IrfanView shows you a preview of the file in the Open dialog box, so it's easy to make sure that you've selected the correct file before you open it. NOTE When you use IrfanView, if you want to see information about each file before you open it, such as the date it was created and the file size, enable the Details check box in the Open dialog box. You can then see that information about each file.
4.	Convert the File After you open the file, choose File, Save As from the menu. From the Save As Type drop-down list at the bottom of the dialog box, choose the file type you want to save the file as, such as JPG. (Again, remember that for the Web, you can only use graphics in JPG, GIF, or PNG.) Type a new name in the File Name text box if you want. Then click Save . Your file will now be converted to the new file type.
5.	Mass-Convert Files One of IrfanView's better features is its capability to convert an entire group of files from one format to another. To do it, open IrfanView and choose File, Batch Conversion/Rename from the menu. The Batch Conversion dialog box shows a list of all the graphics files in the selected folder. Navigate to the folder that holds the files you want to convert. Highlight all the files you want to convert and click the Add button. From the Output Format drop-down list, choose the file format to which you want to convert the files. Then click Start to convert the files.