TARGA

The targa file extension is associated with the Truevision TarGA bitmap image file format.

Truevision originally created a specification for a high-end image file format that will support images suitable for display on the Truevision hardware line of graphic display cards. This format (Targa or TGA) supports any image dimensions and color depth of 1 to 32 bits. As the image format's popularity increased, this format, TGA (Targa), has been migrated to many other platforms and applications. The Targa format is used by several high-end paint and CAD programs.

The tga format is a format for defining raster or bitmap images. Targa supports color maps, alpha channel, gamma value, postage stamp image, textual information and developer-definable data. Unlike other image formats, there are relatively few variations.

Various compression models are supported. Targa images exist in both compressed and uncompressed formats.

The TGA format is probably the most universally supported 24-bit and 32-bit file format for PC applications.

The 32-bit Targa format contains 24 bits of color data and 8 bits of transparency data. Color support ranges from black and white, indexed and RGB colour.

Since Windows does not recognize 16-bit and 32-bit depths, some applications may treat them as 24-bit images. A 16-bit image will be up-graded to a 24-bit image while a 32-bit image will be down-graded to a 24-bit image.