Screenshot format?

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Hi there. Not sure where to post this.

I am considering writing a computer guide. The format could be in an electronic or printed. It will need to include screenshots from my computer. I am using SnagIt.

What would be the best file format to save the screenshots as?

For the web or an eBook, would .png be best?

And for a printed form in MS Word, would .bmp be best?

How about saving things as .tiff?

It is important to get this right the first time and cover my bases, because if I have to try and re-capture things because I chose the wrong file format, that will be a real problem!

Thank you.

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When you’re printing from MS Word, will you be using a utility that allows you to “print to a pdf file” which generates a pdf file?

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PNG should be fine. That’s what I’ve seen used in professional books (print, ebook, PDF).

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Yes, I should be able to do that. Why do you ask?

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I thought PNG was just for the web? You are saying it could be used for a professional printed book too?

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That’s exactly what @ralphm said!

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Right. And I am skeptical. Maybe @ralphm could explain how this is so?

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“image formats”

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@ronpat, thanks for the encyclopedia link!

That still doesnt help me understand why a PNG file would compete with a BMP or TIFF file.

I thought everything in the printed world used TIFF because it retains the best quality and most information?

I know that PNG is lossless, but then so is GIF, and you would take a GIF file to a printer to be used in a book.

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Based on that encyclopedia, it doesn’t. TIFF is far better for printing.

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That is what I thought!

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@cpradio,

What would you recommend I do as I am taking screenshots for my guide?

It sonds like saving the screenshots as a PNG would work if I create a website or possible an eBook, right?

And you imply that I would need to save a copy of the screenshot as a TIFF as well, right?

Or should I do something different?

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I’d use TIFF for physical print based on this questions/answer

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I am using SnagIt to take screenshots.

Should I just save my screenshots as TIFF and then later use something like Photoshop to convert the TIFF to PNG for my website or eBook?

Or is it better to save two files for each screenshot in SnagIt - a TIFF file and a PNG file?

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I’d covnert them later. TIFF would be more of your RAW format image. Their filesizes will be far larger than the PNG, and be capable of creating a good PNG at any point in the future.

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Thanks for the advice, @cpradio

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Dont think the format is that important, most formats have advantages and disadvantages, I tend to use png for logos and .jpg for graphics as the file size tends to be smaller, most formats will serve your purpose but as the others mention, PDF would be a good format for whatever you decide to do it’s free, works on pretty much anything and support is built into internet browsers these days so people will not necessarily have to install anything to read your book…

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For me, I save them as a PNG format. It’s allow me to do anything I want. I can make an easy PDF file or MS Word file easily.

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