Notice how you start to see squares in the image on the right. This is called pixelation, which is the biggest draw back of bitmap images. When they are enlarged, they start to lose quality. The amount an image can be enlarged is related to its resolution.

The advantage of bitmap graphics, however, is that you can edit individual pixels of an image. If you need to change a certain part of the image, you can simply edit that area with a tool (in Photoshop, usually the Paintbrush or Cloning Stamp). Image formats that are bitmap based include Photoshop (PSD), JPEG (JPG), GIF, and Bitmap (BMP).

Macromedia Fireworks uses mostly vector based graphics. The computer defines vector based graphics with math equations. If you were to draw a line, the program may store the point of origin, length, angle, and thickness. It would then interpret this on the screen as a line. Curved lines, shapes, and other features also follow this simple idea of storing properties. This form of storage allows the image to be scaled to infinitely greater sizes without losing image quality.

The draw back is that you cannot erase individual pixels. If you wanted the change a circle to 3/4 of a circle, you could not simply erase 1/4 of the circle. You would need the change the points that define the circle, which is a significantly larger ambient of work. File formats that use vector based graphics are PNG, Adobe Illustrator (AI), and EPS.

Below is a table of tasks that are easier to accomplish with vector based graphics, and bitmap graphics.