Why Inkscape exports only png as raster graphic? Why it doesn't support BMP, JPG, GIF and other popular formats?

I'm no format expert and don't want to be flamed but I have to say that png, in the case of Inkscape, is definitely the superior format. Png is lossless (meaning that you can save it over and over without degrading the file) and is better suited for vector artwork. Jpeg is lossy. Great for photographs but not so great for artwork. I believe png was originated as a replacement to gif. Except for animations, I'm not sure what else gif's are good for. Maybe someone else can answer that one. As far as bmp, well, I just stay the heck away from that format.

Nevertheless, if you need to get your png's into other formats then there are a bazillion free tools out there (Irfanview, Gimp, Imagemagick, Kim) that will convert them for you.

I agree with You about PNG. But sometimes I need to have JPG or other format. In my opinion exporting to PNG and then converting it do desired format is wasting of time (especially when You export many graphics).

Well, fair enough, but converting multiple files isn't difficult...even if you have hundreds of png files. An Imagemagick script can do this for you no matter which operating system that you are using.

>An Imagemagick script[...]

No script needed.

mogrify -format jpg *.png
(converts all png files to jpg)

Inkscape will surely support other formats in the future. PNG was implemented first because it's the most useful/sensible one.

Batch conversion isn't a problem

aho wrote:Inkscape will surely support other formats in the future. PNG was implemented first because it's the most useful/sensible one.

Great. I can't wait.

@aho

"mogrify -format jpg *.png" is exactly what I meant when I mentioned an Imagemagick script.

aho wrote:Inkscape will surely support other formats in the future. PNG was implemented first because it's the most useful/sensible one.

Actually it already does, I coded it in the 0.46 stage, just didnt have time to add it to the export dialog.
gotta try and get round to this some time soon...

Ahh...just put it in 0.46.5 and release that version as stable and you'll be forgiven.

I think it might be because png's are open source as well.

Pffft, you geeks and your command lines...

How you use those arcane things?

SureWhyNot wrote:Pffft, you geeks and your command lines...

How you use those arcane things?

If you don't like command lines, there are hundreds of GUI applications that can convert image formats easily.

But how many of them can handle a batch?

SureWhyNot wrote:But how many of them can handle a batch?

I should think many do. But it's not like I maintain a collection of them them myself I have one,Directory Opus, and that's enough. But it is commercial software so and image conversion is not it's primary function--it just happens to include it as a features--so I doubt many here would favor it.

Irfanview for example supports batch conversion (hit 'b').

gif and jpeg are proprietary format.
png is a free format.. and recommend by W3C.

zilli wrote:gif and jpeg are proprietary format.

GIF is free now that the LZW patents have expired. JPEG in its commonly used forms is also free.