What is an EPS file?

Graphic file

The EPS file is a graphic file. However, there are several other files that are mainly used in the graphics industry. Perhaps you've heard of a JPG file before? It's perfectly suitable for use on websites and webshops. However, there's a big difference between a JPG file and an EPS file, a difference that makes one suitable for print work and the other certainly not. The biggest difference lies in the structure of both files. The JPG file, also known as a pixel file, is built from so-called pixels, while an EPS file consists of lines (vectors). If a printer needs to enlarge an image that, for whatever reason, is set up as a JPG, you'll soon see the pixels. The image becomes grainy and blocky and clearly loses quality, making it no longer suitable for printing on larger surfaces. When you enlarge an EPS file, you'll see that the image quality remains the same. The image can actually be infinitely enlarged and always look sharp and very detailed.

Print shop

It's therefore important that you send your logo or any other file that needs to be printed in the correct format to the print shop. A printer will always ask for this when you need to deliver a file for advertising and print work. Incidentally, an EPS file is also called a vector file, so your print shop may ask you to deliver your logo as a vector file, but now you know that an EPS file is actually a vector file. There are multiple vector files but we won't go into that further in this blog.

Recognizing an EPS file

You can recognize all files on your computer by the extension, the letters after the period in the file name. So you can also recognize an EPS file by the extension, in this case .eps. The abbreviation EPS stands for Encapsulated PostScript format and this is a proprietary vector format that was once developed by the company Adobe.

Viewing an EPS file

If you want to view an EPS file, you need special graphic software for that. Simply opening such a file in Word or PowerPoint unfortunately won't work. Programs with which you can view an EPS file include Inkscape and the online program Gravit. Paid software in this category includes programs such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw. Both are paid, professional programs that are mainly used in the graphics industry.

Vectorizing

To the question, 'What is an EPS file?', we can now answer that it's a file that's very suitable for use on larger surfaces such as billboards, flags, and banners. So now the question is, how can you ensure that the image you want to have printed is delivered to your printer as an EPS file? Is that easy to accomplish?

Images can usually be converted to a vector file (so for example an EPS file) if they're available in a different format. This conversion to a vector file is also called vectorizing by professionals. The original image, for example a logo in JPG format, is traced by hand in an application like Adobe Illustrator. A difficult task, especially because the software in which this happens is not very intuitive and user-friendly.

Work for specialists

If you don't work in the graphics industry or have never worked with packages like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, converting a pixel file to an EPS file or another type of vector file is a difficult and time-consuming job. Not something you do in one evening.

It's also possible to have files converted online and fully automated, but despite the fact that this may sound very attractive, converting to an EPS file is something best done by hand by people who do this as their daily work. This way, the highest quality can be guaranteed and you get your visual material back that you can present well. The so-called vectorizing is therefore specialist work.

Did you know that even photos can be vectorized? However, certain conditions must be met as not every photo is inherently suitable for conversion to an EPS file. The thing is that a digital photo is also built from pixels and on some photos, for example where many people are present, there can be quite a lot of them. Those photos, as you'll understand, are not suitable for vectorization. The best photos to be vectorized in a good and high-quality way are, for example, photos of objects.

Questions?

Do you have any questions following the above blog regarding the use of graphic files or vectorizing your logos or other visual material? Do you have visual material like photos that you'd like to have converted to a vector file but you're not sure if they're suitable for this? Feel free to contact the graphic specialists at Logo in Vector, they're happy to help you.