GIMP FORMATS

[One of GIMP's advantadges is its capabilty of reading a big variety of graphic formats. Aside from the format XCF, GIMP reads formats through plugins, so that means you can download plugins so it can read new formats. That's why GIMP can read photoshop files]

Images

[ .xcf ] the original format, you can save your posters if they aren't finished and open them later, so you can keep editing them normally. This format conserves all of the info you added to it, such as layers, transparency, current selection, channels, etc. xcf files usually take a lot of space.

[ .gif ] this is a format for saving animations, animated posters and edits. They don't take many colors, reason why the lack of quality in gifs.

[ .png ] The most used format to provide full transparency to some pictures, and also used for screenshots and computer graphics (what we are working with).

[ .jpg/jpeg ] Also good for graphics, though I prefer png.

[ .ps ] Yes, the infamous PHOTOSHOP format. Yes, you CAN open a photoshop file in Gimp and work with it just as if it's a xcf file. Therefore, you can easily save psd's you see in other tutorials. ^^they work too!

Brushes

[ .gpb / .gbr / .gih (animated)] The format of brushes in Gimp.

Patterns

[ .pat ] Or a simple image format like jpg or png.