Andrew,
Although .eps files can still be used, it is an older format and standard. There has been a move in recent years to save files in the .tif format for commercial offset. Or native .psd.
Neil
EPS is a holdover from last century that should be avoided at all cost. Tiffs and PSDs are much more friendly and usable file format.
All this depends on the workflow. There are still some apps out there that prefer EPS images for placement.
LOL @ the term ‘standard’. If we really have a standard, why do we have so many variants for these file formats?
Even if it is not as versatile as other formats, TIF is arguably a better standard than EPS, PSD or PDF as it does not have proprietary/legal baggage with it and TIF has a longer history.
Thanks for your answers so far, but no one has explained why TIF or PSD are better than EPS.
All this depends on the workflow. There are still some apps out there that prefer EPS images for placement.
EPS is an old format and does not support the newer 8bit transparency we can find in a layered TIF, PSD, or PDF file. Google and Wikipedia offer plenty of details on these formats.
Please remember to make a distinction between raster eps and vector eps. That might have been what the OP’s printer was talking about, eh "language" being Post Script.
In my old job we used vector eps files from Freehand a lot for certain 2-color products. It was very useful and versatile. They may still be doing that for all I know. though they are switching to Illustrator. Freehand had certain advantages that I believe still can’t be matched in Illy.
even vector eps are being replaced by native AI and PDF files.
there really is no good reason to use EPS other than you are stuck using Pagemaker, Old Quark, or Freehand.
PDF was a complete redesign of PostScript. I was a software engineer at DEC in the olden days when PostScript was new. I worked for the publishing unit responsible for standardizing print for worldwide internal and external pubs. PostScript got to the point where the code was much too arcane and needed help dealing with spot colors. PDF is a much cleaner format and nearly object oriented. We made the switch to PDF at the beginning of its life cycle and never looked back.
This is actually not the whole truth. I’ve found raster EPS are still useful, where file size is an issue, server space is limited or transfer speeds a problem.
Maximum quality jpeg compression on EPS is still one of the most efficient ways to achieve much smaller file sizes, with no PRACTICAL loss in image quality. It doesn’t seem possible to achieve the same thing in either jpeg native or compressed TIFF.
There are still advantages in Freehand which are not available in Illustrator or PDF files.
Maximum quality jpeg compression on EPS is still one of the most efficient ways to achieve much smaller file sizes, with no PRACTICAL loss in image quality. It doesn’t seem possible to achieve the same thing in either jpeg native or compressed TIFF.
You have settings off if the JPG compression in an EPS file is better than the JPG compression in a JPG file. EPS (like PDF) is simply a container format. Your JPG compressed EPS files are simply containing JPG files. Imagine losing a whopping 2-10kb if you broke that JPG free from the excess EPS wrapper! Your JPG files should be smaller.
True Jim, but the overhead of EPS encapsulation is pretty minimal in my estimation and it supplies a little more info about the file to the end user. I myself would use just the JPEG. That’s all that’s really needed.
You do know that Jpeg is a lossy format?
this is why Jpeg is not a print standard, and if you save an EPS with Jpeg compression it also is now a lossy format.
JPEG files are used a lot in printing. While I wouldn’t argue that any one filetype is a standard, we cannot say JPEG files have no place in printing, especially when they can appear in a standard specification like PDF/X-1a.
It’s true that JPEG is lossy but you can get good results when you ship a JPEG made at 100%. It’s run length encoded. Mostly zeroes are compressed out. For example, if there are 15 zeroes in a row, the file will contain a sentinal byte (*), zero and the hex value F (15), yielding *0F. Values less than 3 bytes long are not compressed. For nearly continuous tone raster files run length encoding will not really get you anywhere without a further compression scheme added (e.g. a 60% JPEG). TIFF, of course, is the way to go for really precise work.
Anyone still awake after this.
Yes but HOW lossy is lossy? To see I suggest you save down a MAX quality jpeg compressed EPS and compare it with the original, break it apart, look at the channels, the histogram. Use difference mode or apply image to weed out the differences. Imagine you are working with a client with an incredibly slow server, who wants amends quickly. Then ask yourself whether you are losing anything in practice.
Also I’m not sure in practice that native jpeg format, maximum quality does exactly the same thing as max quality jpeg compression within EPS format.
Mark,
As far as I know, there is no difference between a max quality JPEG inside or outside an EPS file. As was stated before in this thread, EPS is just a wrapper.
EPS was originally designed to be included in a PostScript file. Each block of EPS code, for example, could be one page in a book. The EPS header info describes the properties of the particular EPS code block.
But if you are sending out Jpeg encoded files you are risking others resaving them why take that risk? when you know that a tiff or a PSD is not lossy.
and what about all those print shops that open vector eps files in Photoshop which rasters them and they resave them.
"if you are sending out Jpeg encoded files you are risking others resaving them why take that risk?" well THAT’S the first really good argument, I agree. Paul I suggest you save down a jpeg compressed EPS with a jpeg both ‘max quality’, compare file size and quality.
If I’m being honest, you’ve got to be careful sending jpegs because everyone KNOWS its a compressed format.
But if you are sending out Jpeg encoded files you are risking others resaving them
Ideally, you are sending a PDF or EPS file with JPEG encoding to a printer (the end of the line), where no further editing/compression will occur. If you are still editing/working with a live document, you would be best to use a native format like PSD (Photoshop) or AI (Illustrator).
