Definition:
- a scan pattern (In which an area is scanned from side to side in lines from top to bottom.)
- a pattern of closely spaced rows of pixels that form an image
Meaning:
When someone says a “raster graphic” they mean an image that is made of a composite bitmap grid, and NOT its alternative — a vector.
“Images made of pixels ARE raster graphics”
Raster Graphic
There are two main types of digital graphic file — Raster and Vector.
Raster graphics are digital images that uses tiny colored pixels on a two-dimensional grid representing an image. Digital photos and detailed graphics both come in raster form. Pictures you take with your cellphone or digital camera are all raster images. Because format files can support a wide range of colors; images such as photographs, can have high resolutions with millions of colors.
To put simply,
Raster Images are made of pixels.
What are raster graphics used for?
Digital photographs, illustrations, Logos and some file types such as JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, and more. Raster images are very common and range from high definition quality to basic pixel art. Being composited of individual pixels, raster images are easy to alter and edit with software such as Photoshop and GIMP. Utility wise raster graphics are amazing but not without consequence. These files tend to lose data from altering a image size or other factors. Some images hold too much data and can result in an unnecessary large file.