8i logo 8i.co.za AM.CO.ZA Knowledge Base

The Difference Between Raster and Vector for the AM.CO.ZA Vectorization System (Part 1)

Source: https://softwaretraining.co.za/raster-vector-difference (softwaretraining.co.za; boxed from softt.jsonl dump Date 2026-08-21; live HTML was not crawled this pass). Fetched 2026-09-04T08:00:17Z / 2026-09-04 10:00 SAST.

What this is: One AM.CO.ZA softwaretraining how-to in the vectorization series (Part 1 — raster vs vector). Knowledge on this page is cited to the softwaretraining URL above. Dump fields below are complete for this softt.jsonl row.

Dump record (all fields)

{
  "URL": "https://softwaretraining.co.za/raster-vector-difference",
  "Title": "The Difference Between Raster and Vector for the AM.CO.ZA Vectorization System (Part 1)",
  "Transcript": "Howdy, guys. This is Jeshua now from softwaretraining.co.za and in this miniseries, we're gonna be looking at vectorizing our raster images. But before that, let's have a quick intro first. So, today's video can be found on softwaretraining.co.za. We make short and easy to watch problem-solving videos, and we have daily updates. Now, if we head into the actual topic at hand, so, like I mentioned in the intro, this miniseries is gonna be on vectorizing raster images. What that comes down to is, we're gonna take an image which is pixel-based and then turn it into a mathematical equation. Now, vector and raster, they normally have two different purposes. So vector is common in like, how can I say, logos and um simple graphics. So something that you can blow up the size of a billboard and you don't lose any quality, but also in return, it doesn't uh hold too much information when it comes to colour variation and so forth. Now, you can get fancy, but the file always get bigger. If you add more detail. But in general, vectors work really well with simple graphics, like I mentioned, like logos is a prime example. Then when it comes to raster, this is commonly what you'll find in photographs, um, artwork, anything in that line, uh, and that will be raster. Same way in printing, oftentimes, you will use maybe a vector design, but then it will first rip it into a raster so it can work on points. And not actual uh mathematical equations. Even though in many ways, you can say there's still some form of math to it as every pixel has a location and a colour value or colour information, but, um, vectors tend to work with curves and shapes. So on the bottom here, we've got a nice little sample here. So yeah, you can see we've got this raster image that's been converted to a vector image. And then, um, as you can see, we lose a lot of information. But now, this will work with some platforms where only vector will be working. Then if we go to a more simple example, so here, you, we can see we've got the vector shape, so pretty much, it's got a calculation of what is its radius. And then, on the right here, we've got the same shape that's been converted to a raster, and yeah, you can see it's pixel-based. So every pixel um has its own information and that is kind of where the term also resolution or DPI and those type of things come in where it's kind of the amount of information. Per inch, and that is why obviously, higher resolutions, higher quality. So it's a bit like zooming this one out, and the pixels become smaller and smaller. Now, when it comes to actual formats, you can see at the bottom, popular ones. And for vector, we've got the Adobe Illustrator, we've got EPS, CGM, PDF, SPG, and CDR. I would say in my personal experience, the Illustrator files, PDFs, and SPGs are the most common. That's also the ones I normally work with. Then when it comes to actual rest of. Here, we've got our classic bitmap, and we've got a TIFF file. TIF is also popular in printing as it can store a lot of information and um different types of information, so like channels and so forth. Then, we've got a few other ones, and the other ones you guys might also recognise is the PNG for the portable network graphics and the JPEGs. Which the main difference between these two, at least from my point of view, is the PNG supports like alpha channels, so in other words, transparent backgrounds where JPEGs do not. But JPEGs also can be pretty small. Now, obviously, PNGs you can also save with a background. So it doesn't mean if you um wanna save something with a background, it has to be JPEG and it um depending on what you're going for in your design and so forth. But yeah, so that's the basic idea of raster and vector. And like I said, what we're gonna be doing in this tutorial or in this miniseries is learning how we can take a raster and convert it into a vector. Ideally, as simple as possible, but sometimes it's some cleaning that needs to happen to make sure you've got a nice, uh, clean file. But yeah, otherwise, in the meanwhile though, if we head here to softwaretraining.co.za. You guys will notice that we've got a variety of different softwares we do cover and you can also isolate your search on the top right. If you do not, however, find the training videos you're looking for, just simply go here, request a training video, fill in the mini form, and then we'll do our best to try and make that for you. But otherwise, thanks guys for watching and cheers.",
  "Date": "2026-08-21"
}

English how-to (from dump Transcript)

The dump Transcript is the step source for this page (auto-caption style kept as dump text; not invented).

Howdy, guys. This is Jeshua now from softwaretraining.co.za and in this miniseries, we're gonna be looking at vectorizing our raster images. But before that, let's have a quick intro first. So, today's video can be found on softwaretraining.co.za. We make short and easy to watch problem-solving videos, and we have daily updates. Now, if we head into the actual topic at hand, so, like I mentioned in the intro, this miniseries is gonna be on vectorizing raster images. What that comes down to is, we're gonna take an image which is pixel-based and then turn it into a mathematical equation. Now, vector and raster, they normally have two different purposes. So vector is common in like, how can I say, logos and um simple graphics. So something that you can blow up the size of a billboard and you don't lose any quality, but also in return, it doesn't uh hold too much information when it comes to colour variation and so forth. Now, you can get fancy, but the file always get bigger. If you add more detail. But in general, vectors work really well with simple graphics, like I mentioned, like logos is a prime example. Then when it comes to raster, this is commonly what you'll find in photographs, um, artwork, anything in that line, uh, and that will be raster. Same way in printing, oftentimes, you will use maybe a vector design, but then it will first rip it into a raster so it can work on points. And not actual uh mathematical equations. Even though in many ways, you can say there's still some form of math to it as every pixel has a location and a colour value or colour information, but, um, vectors tend to work with curves and shapes. So on the bottom here, we've got a nice little sample here. So yeah, you can see we've got this raster image that's been converted to a vector image. And then, um, as you can see, we lose a lot of information. But now, this will work with some platforms where only vector will be working. Then if we go to a more simple example, so here, you, we can see we've got the vector shape, so pretty much, it's got a calculation of what is its radius. And then, on the right here, we've got the same shape that's been converted to a raster, and yeah, you can see it's pixel-based. So every pixel um has its own information and that is kind of where the term also resolution or DPI and those type of things come in where it's kind of the amount of information. Per inch, and that is why obviously, higher resolutions, higher quality. So it's a bit like zooming this one out, and the pixels become smaller and smaller. Now, when it comes to actual formats, you can see at the bottom, popular ones. And for vector, we've got the Adobe Illustrator, we've got EPS, CGM, PDF, SPG, and CDR. I would say in my personal experience, the Illustrator files, PDFs, and SPGs are the most common. That's also the ones I normally work with. Then when it comes to actual rest of. Here, we've got our classic bitmap, and we've got a TIFF file. TIF is also popular in printing as it can store a lot of information and um different types of information, so like channels and so forth. Then, we've got a few other ones, and the other ones you guys might also recognise is the PNG for the portable network graphics and the JPEGs. Which the main difference between these two, at least from my point of view, is the PNG supports like alpha channels, so in other words, transparent backgrounds where JPEGs do not. But JPEGs also can be pretty small. Now, obviously, PNGs you can also save with a background. So it doesn't mean if you um wanna save something with a background, it has to be JPEG and it um depending on what you're going for in your design and so forth. But yeah, so that's the basic idea of raster and vector. And like I said, what we're gonna be doing in this tutorial or in this miniseries is learning how we can take a raster and convert it into a vector. Ideally, as simple as possible, but sometimes it's some cleaning that needs to happen to make sure you've got a nice, uh, clean file. But yeah, otherwise, in the meanwhile though, if we head here to softwaretraining.co.za. You guys will notice that we've got a variety of different softwares we do cover and you can also isolate your search on the top right. If you do not, however, find the training videos you're looking for, just simply go here, request a training video, fill in the mini form, and then we'll do our best to try and make that for you. But otherwise, thanks guys for watching and cheers.

Dump Date