The short answer… different jobs need different files. Print wants files that scale without blurring (EPS, SVG, PDF and your AI master). Screens want files that load fast (JPEG, PNG, WebP). Your phone shoots its own formats (HEIC, MOV), video travels as MP4, your brand fonts come as OTF or TTF for your computer and WOFF for your website, and the whole lot arrives zipped. Every file in your brand folder, explained below… including exactly when to use each one, and when to leave it in the folder.
So the handover folder has landed, you’ve poured something celebratory, and inside are roughly nineteen versions of your own logo (approximately). The sign writer wants one file, the web developer needs another, and don’t even get us started on what the printer just emailed back. Deep breath, petal. Every file in that folder exists for a reason (this page is the reason) and it’s easier than it looks. Bookmark it and you’ll never send a JPEG to a sign writer ever again.
First, the only concept you actually need
Every image file in your folder belongs to one of two families and once you know them, everything else clicks.
Vector files are the recipe (EPS, SVG, AI)
They’re instructions for drawing your logo, so they can be followed at any size: business card or billboard, identically crisp. Recipes are for makers, printers, designers, sign writers.
Raster files are the baked cake (JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC)
They’re finished pixels: delicious as served, but stretch a cake to billboard size and things get crumbly. Cakes are for serving, websites, socials, screens.
The recipe scales forever and the cake is what everyone actually eats. That’s the whole science, and your folder contains both on purpose.
The ten-second answer
| You’re… | Use |
|---|---|
| Sending anything to a printer or sign writer | EPS or print-ready PDF (the recipe) |
| Putting images on your website | WebP or JPEG, SVG for the logo |
| Posting to socials | JPEG or PNG, MP4 for video |
| Needing a logo with no background | PNG (screens) or SVG/EPS (print) |
| Typing menus, price lists, documents | Install the OTF fonts first |
| Sharing photos straight off your iPhone | Convert HEIC to JPEG first |
| Hiring a new designer someday | Hand over the AI master file |
Now the full dictionary, one file at a time.
PDF (Portable Document Format)
The file that looks the same everywhere, on every device, every time. Think; contracts, price lists, supplier catalogues, the guide you downloaded this morning. When formatting consistency is the whole point (a flyer to the printer, a menu on your website), PDF is the reliable one. Ask your designer for a print-ready PDF when it’s headed to a printing press, same format but with extra polish under the hood.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
The everyday photo file of the internet: small, fast to upload, happy on every screen. Your go-to for photos on the website, in newsletters and across socials. One warning (it’s the photocopier rule), every time a JPEG is edited and re-saved, it’s compressed again and a photocopy of a photocopy gets grainy. Edit from the original, export once and never send a JPEG to print duty.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
Your JPEG’s rich aunty. She takes up more room, but she’s absolutely worth it. PNGs keep their quality through repeated saves and (the party trick) supports transparent backgrounds… which is why your logo lives here for screen use, sitting cleanly on any colour without a white box around it. The price is file size, so use PNGs where transparency or crispness matters and don’t pave an entire website with them.
WebP (the modern web image)
The newest resident of your folder (and the one behind the most modern of confusions), save an image from your own website (or export from Canva) and you’ll often get a .webp… brilliant online, smaller than JPEG at the same quality and politely turned away at the door by printers and older software. WebP is a web-only file, which means it’s perfect on your site, but never sent to print (its even newer cousin AVIF plays the same role, treat it identically). If a supplier can’t open your WebP, export the original as JPEG or PNG and everyone’s day improves.
HEIC (your iPhone’s photo format)
The “why won’t this open” champion. Every photo your iPhone takes is a HEIC. Gorgeous, space-efficient and regularly unreadable by printers, older computers and some booking software. Before emailing treatment-room photos to your designer, printer or anyone who sounds confused, convert to JPEG (share via email or change the setting – Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible). Your creative team’s inbox thanks you in advance.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
The moving one. Short animations in emails, socials and stories, with transparent backgrounds when needed. Web-only, never print (a printer cannot print a loop, though we’d pay to watch one try). And yes, the format’s creator insists it’s pronounced JIFF. We respect the effort, but FYI, nobody says JIFF.
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
The recipe file for the web. Your logo as code, infinitely crisp at any screen size, tiny to load, beloved by web developers. When your developer asks for the logo, this is what they’re hoping you send, mostly a digital file, though the recipe scales to print in a pinch.
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)
The classic recipe file for print (and the one your folder keeps for special occasions). Think; signage, vehicle wraps, posters, the incredibly large things your brand will eventually go on. EPS holds your logo at perfect quality at any size, which is why sign writers ask for it by name and why sharing one makes a graphic designer do a small happy dance at their desk. Everyday promotions use the other files – the big moments use this.
AI (the Adobe Illustrator master file)
The most important file you’ll almost never open. The OG, editable source your logo was actually built in. Every other logo file in your folder was exported from this one… it’s the seed the whole garden grew from. You don’t use it day to day, you own it, safely backed up and hand it over the day you hire a new designer (not every studio hands the master over, which tells you something worth knowing… it’s one of the questions we’d ask any studio before signing). If you take one action from this page, confirm you have yours.
MP4 (your video file)
The video format the whole internet agreed on. Think; reels, stories, website headers, YouTube, all of it. Light to upload, plays everywhere, no special software. Your iPhone films in MOV, MP4’s Apple-raised sibling, most platforms accept both and any free converter turns one into the other when something complains. For sharing video anywhere, MP4 is the answer.
OTF and TTF (your brand fonts, for computers)
The wardrobe your words wear. OTF (and its older twin TTF) are install-on-your-computer font files. Double-click, install, and your brand fonts appear in Word, Canva and everywhere you type. Install them on every machine that makes anything… the front-desk laptop writing the price list is a brand touchpoint too. If a program only accepts one twin, use the other (they dress identically).
WOFF and WOFF2 (your brand fonts, for the website)
The same fonts, packed for the web. WOFF files live inside your website’s code so every visitor sees your typography without installing a thing… they’re your developer’s files, never yours to double-click. When the web team asks for “web font files,” this is the request, when there’s no WOFF in the folder, your designer can export one from the font licence.
ZIP (the folder of folders)
How the whole handover arrives… everything above, compressed into one tidy parcel. Double-click to unpack (both Mac and Windows do it natively), then (and this is the entire tip) keep the original ZIP backed up somewhere safe, exactly as delivered. It’s a portfolio, not a filing cabinet, but it IS your complete brand in one file. Future you, hiring a designer in a growth year, will be very smug about it.
One bonus mystery (solved) RGB versus CMYK
Ever printed something and watched the colours arrive… different? Screens mix light (RGB), printers mix ink (CMYK) and the two speak slightly different colour. Your brand files come built for their destination, which is one more reason the print files and the web files stay in their lanes. When colour accuracy really matters (packaging, signage), ask the printer for a proof first. Every seasoned brand owner has exactly one horror story here, this box is how you keep it to zero.
Why so many files of the same logo?
Because your logo performs on every stage, the recipe versions for print, the transparent version for screens, the web-code version for your site. Think Destiny’s Child… one undeniable lead, immaculate support, absolutely nobody freelancing. The folder is a well-rehearsed group and now you know every member by name 🌱