Image Format Support
Images can be uploaded to Front.Space in various formats (called 'input formats'), and you can easily convert these images to other formats for displaying in your website or application (called 'output formats'). Examples of situations where you might want to change the delivered image format:
- Delivering JPEG images for photos that you want to load quickly (or AVIF or WebP if your users are on a browser that supports these).
- Delivering a PNG (24 bit) for high-quality illustrations with a transparent background.
- Delivering an image where the original format is not supported for delivery by the browser. For example, you could deliver a Photoshop (.psd) image as a JPEG.
You can convert and deliver images in a different format by explicitly calling the fetch_format transformation parameter (f in URLs).
For example, to display an AVIF version of the uploaded sample6 JPEG file:
Front.Space offers an automatic format selection transformation called f_auto, which optimizes image delivery by generating the most suitable format supported by the requesting browser. By using f_auto, you can deliver an image as a WebP, AVIF, or JPEG-2000 file based on the requesting browser and your account setup. The optimization algorithm also works when the original asset is a PNG, animated GIF, or any other format.
For example, if you deliver a JPEG image with f_auto, FrontSpace might generate and deliver the image as a WebP, AVIF or JPEG-2000 file, depending on the requesting browser and your account setup. The f_auto algorithm will similarly deliver the best format when the original asset is a PNG (with or without transparency), an animated GIF, etc.
You may See: Change Image Formats using f (Format) Parameter
The table below summarizes the supported image formats.
Format | Extensions | Supported for Upload | Supported for Transformations |
AI (Adobe Illustrator) | .ai | Yes | Yes |
animated AVIF | .avif | No | Yes |
animated GIF | .gif | Yes | Yes |
animated PNG | .png | Yes | Yes |
animated WebP | .webp | Yes | Yes |
AVIF | .avif | Yes | Yes |
BMP | .bmp | Yes | Yes |
BW (Browzwear file) | .bw | Yes | Yes |
DjVu | .djvu | Yes | No |
DNG (Digital Negative) | .dng | Yes | No |
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) | .ps, .ept, .eps, .eps3 | Yes | Yes |
FBX (Filmbox) | .fbx | Yes | Yes |
FLIF (Free Lossless Image Format) | .flif | Yes | Yes |
GIF | .gif | Yes | Yes |
GLB (Binary glTF) | .glb | Yes | Yes |
glTF (GL Transmission Format) | .gltf | Yes | Yes |
HEIF | .heif, .heic | Yes | Yes |
ICO | .ico | Yes | Yes |
InDesign | .indd | Yes | Yes |
JPEG | .jpg, .jpe, .jpeg | Yes | Yes |
JPEG 2000 | .jp2 | Yes | Yes |
JPEG XR (JPEG eXtended Range) | .wdp, .jxr, .hdp | Yes | Yes |
JXL (JPEG XL) | .jxl | Yes | Yes |
OBJ | .obj | Yes | Yes |
Yes | Yes | ||
PLY | .ply | Yes | Yes |
PNG | .png | Yes | Yes |
PSD (PhotoShop Document) | .psd | Yes | Yes |
Raw image files | .arw, .cr2 | Yes | No |
SVG | .svg | Yes | Yes |
TARGA (Truevision TGA) | .tga | Yes | Yes |
TIFF | .tif, .tiff | Yes | Yes |
U3MA (Fabric file) | .u3ma | Yes | Yes |
USDZ | .usdz | Yes | No |
WebP | .webp | Yes | Yes |
This parameter sets the output quality of the image. It can also be referred to as 'q'. The valid values for this parameter range from 0 to 100, which includes both the endpoints.
Please note that this parameter applies only for JPEG or WebP as output format.
The highest quality image can be produced by setting this parameter to 100, while the default value is 80. This parameter can help in significantly compressing your images depending upon the level of quality you choose.
You may See: API Documentation of the q (Quality) Parameter
If the input file is a multi-page image such as a GIF or an animated WebP or PDF file, this parameter can extract a specific page from the input and convert it to the output format specified.
Chroma subsampling can be enabled or disabled using this parameter. When the value is set to "true," it applies 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. On the other hand, when the value is set to "false," the chroma subsampling parameter is kept at 4:4:4.
The default value of this parameter is True. This feature is essential for maintaining professional standards.
The compression level for PNG output can be set using this parameter, which is limited to a range of 1 to 9. The default value is 6. It is worth noting that while a compression level of 9 provides the best compression ratio, it may take a significant amount of time to compress the file.
You can enable or disable progressive image scan according to your preference. The default value is set to True.
Front.Space automatically converts all JPEG images to progressive images and applies lossless quality optimizations by default.
Enabling the compress=true feature would trigger lossy optimizations on the image, leading to a significant decrease in image size, without compromising on the image quality's perceptual loss. Our analysis shows that this feature can result in a 30-50% reduction in the output image size while maintaining high image quality. This is demonstrated in the example below, where there was almost no loss in the image quality, despite the compression.
This feature only works when output is produced in JPEG or PNG format.
