FluffyBench

Why do old image formats still matter?

An old image that won't open may still hold a picture worth keeping. The trick is finding an app that understands how it was packed.

FluffyBench · 5 min read · Reviewed

Why won't an app open an old image?

An image format is a set of rules for storing a picture. Opening it is like unpacking a box: you need to understand the labels and dividers. An app that doesn't know those rules may refuse the file even though the picture is still there.

For formats FluffyBench can read, its local reader unpacks the old file into a picture you can view or save in another format.

An old XPM or PCX file passes through a compatible on-device reader to a visible picture, with a branch to saving a new PNG, JPG or WebP.
The reader understands the old packing rules; your next app can use the new copy. Sources and method

That's why an image can work in FluffyBench even when your browser's own preview can't open it. Our browser format guide explains that difference.

How stored instructions become a picture

XPM makes the unpacking easy to see: its text contains a color key and rows of letters that spell out the picture. Here's a real key and row from our small XPM sample.

XPM keys A, B and C map to pale lavender, purple and dark gray. The actual row AAAABBBBAAAA becomes four pale pixels, four purple pixels and four pale pixels.
A letter isn't a color on its own: the XPM's key tells the reader which color to draw.

Once the letters become colored pixels, PNG can store that picture without needing XPM's text recipe.

What can change when you convert an image?

A usable picture doesn't always carry everything the source held. In this flower example, creating the black-and-white MacPaint file removes the photograph's color; converting that MacPaint file to PNG can't bring it back.

Matching flower-petal crops: shaded pink petals before MacPaint, and black-and-white shapes after the MacPaint file is decoded to PNG. The path labels the MacPaint creation as the color-loss stage.
The same petal area before MacPaint and after decoding to PNG. · Photo: Annie Spratt, Unsplash License, via Unsplash.

Some specialist formats store finer shade values, or brighter light values, than a screen preview can show. A preview tells you what the picture looks like; the output format and export settings determine which numeric detail the saved copy keeps.

Schematic of source color values branching separately to a display preview and a saved output. The saved numeric detail depends on format and export settings.
Schematic, not a measured conversion: a preview and a saved file answer different questions.

Which format should you choose for an old image?

Choose the copy for the job you're doing next, and a format your destination app accepts.

Three choices: crisp graphics to PNG for lossless pixels; photos where size matters to JPG with some detail loss; either kind of picture to lossy or lossless WebP.
PNG stores the pixels you export losslessly; resizing or reducing colors can still change those pixels.

Keep the original if its extra precision or file structure may matter later. An everyday copy may leave those details behind.

For the tradeoffs between PNG, JPG and WebP, see our guide to common image formats.

If your old file contains pages, layers or separate image surfaces, our guide to image-file parts explains what those parts mean before you choose a copy.

Doing it in FluffyBench

Use FluffyBench PNG Converter when you need a new file for another app. Here's an XPM flower becoming a PNG, from choosing the image to saving the copy.

  1. FluffyBench PNG Converter's Choose images button.
    FluffyBench PNG Converter's Choose images button.
    Step 1. Choose the old image you want to use. This walkthrough uses a flower saved as XPM.
    1. Choose images opens your file picker.
  2. PNG is selected in the To format control.
    PNG is selected in the To format control.
    Step 2. Check that To says PNG. The default settings suit this graphic.
    1. To names the format of your new copy.
  3. The loaded XPM is ready for Convert 1 to PNG.
    The loaded XPM is ready for Convert 1 to PNG.
    Step 3. Convert makes the PNG copy.
    1. Press Convert 1 to PNG.
  4. Completed PNG flower preview and the output dimensions and size.
    Completed PNG flower preview and the output dimensions and size.
    Step 4. Check the picture and the PNG size beneath its original size.
    1. Check the flower in the PNG preview.
    2. This is the PNG's dimensions and file size.
  5. The PNG Download button.
    The PNG Download button.
    Step 5. Download saves your PNG for the app where you'll use it.
    1. Download saves the PNG copy to your device.
FluffyBench JPG Converter for photo copiesFluffyBench WebP Converter for lossy or lossless copies

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