File Formats

Below is a list of the image file formats you can send us. Further down this page, you'll find a list of the document and text formats we accept.

Read how to avoid file corruption;
Find out which software versions we use.

Image File Formats

AI (.ai): Adobe Illustrator's native file format. Can include raster and vector data. Vector images can be enlarged to any size without loss of quality. Save A COPY of your Illustrator file as an EPS.
EPS (.eps): (Encapsulated PostScript). It preserves all raster and vector information, such as clipping paths. EPS can be used without conversion in all popular page layout programs. EPS is the only way to send artwork which uses spot colours.
JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg): This is a both a method of data compression for images and a file type. Caution: JPEG images can be compressed, which means the software intelligently throws away information to make file sizes smaller. The more compression is applied, the more deterioration is visible in the image. The lost data is not recoverable. For this reason, if you start with a JPEG image, save it as a TIFF (see below) before you do any work on it.
PSD (.psd): Adobe Photoshop's native file format. It can preserve all layers, additional channels, text and paths in their editable form. Duotones must be saved in .eps format: see Photoshop's Help files for details. Save A COPY of your Photoshop file as a TIFF.
TIFF (.tif or tiff): (Tagged Image File Format). A raster format that can be used without conversion in all popular page layout programs. It can be compressed or converted to any other common file type without loss of data. It can also carry vector data such as clipping paths, but cannot contain layers.
WMF (.wmf): (Windows MetaFile). A Windows vector image format that can be enlarged to any size without loss of quality. (We can open this file format in Adobe Illustrator.) If you have an drawing program such as CorelDraw, Illustrator or Freehand, you can open (or Import) your WMF file and Save As an EPS.

Document & Text File Formats

PDF (.pdf): (Portable Document Format). Most suitable for full-colour work. The best application for creating PDFs is the full version of Adobe Acrobat. Most page layout programs will now accept PDF files for images.
Important: 1) Save your PDF using the Print option. You will need a PostScript printer driver installed. 2) If you do not want to supply fonts separately, you must choose to Embed Fonts when saving your PDF (an option on the Fonts tab).
Caution: PDFs created from Microsoft Word documents are not adequate for spot colour or full-colour artwork.
Word (.doc): Microsoft Word's native file format. (Find out which version you can send). (Please note: We make a small charge for converting Word documents (and pdfs created from Word) into a print ready format.)
Excel (.xls): Microsoft Word's native file format. (Find out which version you can send). (Please note: We make a small charge for converting Word documents (and pdfs created from Word) into a print ready format.)

Text (.txt): A cross-platform text file. Can be saved with or without line breaks, but otherwise contains no formatting (heading styles, tables, bold, italic, etc.). A TXT file cannot contain embedded objects such as pictures, which should be sent separately as one of the image formats listed above.
If you are sending data from an Excel spreadsheet, please use the File menu, Save As commmand. In the Save As dialogue box, select "Text (Tab-delimited) (*.txt)" from the "Save as type" drop-down list.

Compressing files to avoid file corruption

You can send files on CD, or via email. Please let us know in advance if you plan to send files via email. It is useful to use software (such as WinZip or Stuffit Deluxe) to compress (or archive) the files you send via email. This helps avoid file corruption, particularly in font files.

Windows users can send Zipped (.zip) files.
Mac users can send Stuffed (.sit) files. Please add file extensions to files before compressing, as it helps our systems recognise the file types sent.

Download Admiral's Artwork Guide (pdf).
(Right-click and select "Save Target As" to save a copy to your hard drive.)

Other ways we help customers like you...

"There really are only a few key factors that we need in a printer: high quality end product, efficient service and customer backup that allows us to work closely to solve problems without affecting our deadline. Admiral meets these goals and manages to exceed them by such a margin it would be impossible not to recommend them wholeheartedly for anyone that wants a product on time, to the highest of standards and with the minimum of fuss."
Richard Aldridge
ALGO:rhythm (design consultancy

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