: Best format to save Photoshop artwork for printing? I am creating artwork to sell on etsy and I use photoshop for my designs, but I'm a bit lost as to what format I should output the images

@Turnbaugh909

Save as RGB JPG with a quality setting of 12.

This will produce high quality images with only minimal discernible variation due to jpg compression. You most likely wouldn't even notice any change due to compression.


Anyone using the images for print production will know (or should know at least) how to handle the jpg. After all every stock photo site provides JPGs. And home users won't be confused by the JPG format.
PDF would work, but the more home-based users may be confused by the PDF and unhappy that it can't just be posted to some social media site, or show up inline in an email, etc.
You could provide CMYK JPGs or Tiffs. But really, only those using files for print will prefer them - so you would be limiting the market for those files to a degree. And, as posted, anyone using the files for print should be very familiar with altering an RGB JPG for print production. In addition, file sizes for Tiffs may means that's not a viable option. They will be much larger in terms of kb. In many instances a PDF will be larger in terms of file size as well.


Saving as JPG offers the smallest file size while retaining the largest dimensions and the highest compatibility possible.

Saving as RGB ensures home-users get more accurate color if they were to print the JPGs. Most home-user printers require color to be sent as RGB. Providing CMYK files will mean those printing on inkjet printers may get drastically inaccurate color. And, again, anyone doing print production will know to convert to CMYK if needed.

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@Samaraweera207

It might be better to offer several formats.

The usual standard for the print industry is CMYK TIF, but file sizes are large. PDFs are certainly usable for print but if they just contain jpeg raster images, then I can't see the point of putting them inside a PDF. JPEG's saved at high quality settings (low compression) can be OK for print, file sizes are certainly more sensible. If some of your potential customers are using your artwork for the web, then you might also want to offer PNG images.

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