Best file format for scanned documents/pictures?
by IOACHIMVS from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5H4W9)
Hi,
Quite some time ago the idea of digitize my family's most relevant documents and photographs started going through my head. Hands on deck I scanned some of them and I got to the point where I started questioning my choice for the file format.
I've been saving those scans as TIFF... and sure, it's probably not a bad idea at all, but I really don't know if I ever finish scanning loads and loads of documents it will be a good idea them to size 5-20MiB each. And I'm not sure if enabling JPEG compression on top of TIFF it's the wisest idea neither... at the end of the day it would be just JPEG on top of other file format.
Doing a quick research I came to the DjVu file format. It looks like good format to work on: it's lighter than TIFF and since I would always visualize the files from a GNU/Linux device compatibility shouldn't be a problem.
However I have no great experience in file formats. I'm sure there a dozen out there that could be good candidates.
Which you consider is the best file format for preserving old documents? Please feel free to suggest any other.
We're talking about both manuscripts and pictures. So keeping them legible and reminiscent must be a priority (I do not discard using different file formats for each aim if you suggest it), keeping them lightweight would be a plus.
Quite some time ago the idea of digitize my family's most relevant documents and photographs started going through my head. Hands on deck I scanned some of them and I got to the point where I started questioning my choice for the file format.
I've been saving those scans as TIFF... and sure, it's probably not a bad idea at all, but I really don't know if I ever finish scanning loads and loads of documents it will be a good idea them to size 5-20MiB each. And I'm not sure if enabling JPEG compression on top of TIFF it's the wisest idea neither... at the end of the day it would be just JPEG on top of other file format.
Doing a quick research I came to the DjVu file format. It looks like good format to work on: it's lighter than TIFF and since I would always visualize the files from a GNU/Linux device compatibility shouldn't be a problem.
However I have no great experience in file formats. I'm sure there a dozen out there that could be good candidates.
Which you consider is the best file format for preserving old documents? Please feel free to suggest any other.
We're talking about both manuscripts and pictures. So keeping them legible and reminiscent must be a priority (I do not discard using different file formats for each aim if you suggest it), keeping them lightweight would be a plus.