Formats

So far, we have come across .xcf and .jpeg files. These different extensions mean quite a lot. Remember lesson 1 Layered up ? Well when you go to save as JPEG it compresses all the layers into 1 layer. The main advantage of these files is that they are tiny. xcf files on the other hand will leave all the layers, opacity and basically everything as it was in gimp. However you have to pay the price of size - So what to pick? well, If it is a work in progress - Save it as a .xcf - the size is not deadly. If you finished working on a picture/photo save it as a JPEG. Another advantage of JPEGs is that all modern computers can  read them while .xcfs - might be a problem - if you know a computer has gimp but the amount of free memory on your flash drive is limited JPEGs are also great.

Here are some more extensions you might like to know about :
JPG (also a jpeg)
PSD (Photoshop file (READ PHOTOSHOP POWER ))
PNG (A bit like a JPEG)
AND MANY MORE!

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