Which picture formats can you place in Layout by Zaweba?

Almost any picture you are likely to be sent will place. Layout by Zaweba takes PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, WebP, HEIC, HEIF and AVIF pictures, layered Photoshop PSD and PSB files with their picture layers and layer comps, EPS files by their preview, SVG, a page from a PDF, and a page from another Layout document (.zala). Each can be linked or embedded, and several can be placed at once with the place gun.

That list covers what turns up in real jobs: photos straight off a phone, logos from a brand pack, adverts supplied as PDFs, and artwork from other designers. Knowing which format to ask for, though, makes a bigger difference to the printed result than whether a file can be placed at all.

Photographs

JPEG is the most common format for photos and is fine for print when the file is large and saved at good quality. TIFF is the traditional print format and suits photos that have been carefully edited. PNG is lossless and handles transparency, which suits screenshots and graphics more than photos. HEIC and HEIF come from many recent phones, and AVIF and WebP are newer formats often found on the web. Layout places all of them, which saves a round of converting files before you start.

What matters most for photos is resolution at the size they will print. The Links panel shows effective and actual ppi for each picture, and live preflight can flag low-resolution pictures, so you find a weak photo before the printer does.

Logos and drawn artwork

For logos, diagrams and anything with crisp edges, vector formats are better than photos because they stay sharp at any size. SVG is a common vector format and places directly. EPS is an older format still found in brand packs; Layout places it by its preview, so if a sharp vector version exists in SVG or PDF, it is usually the better choice.

A page from a PDF is often the best way to bring in finished artwork, such as a logo exported from a vector program or an advert supplied by a client. Choose the page you need when placing.

Layered and layout files

Layered PSD and PSB files keep their layers. You choose which picture layers show and can pick a layer comp, so one file can supply several versions of a picture. Placing a page of another .zala document is useful for repeating elements such as an advert designed once and used in several publications, or a page from one job dropped into another as a picture.

Linked or embedded

Linked pictures stay as separate files and the layout points to them. The document stays small, and an edited picture can be updated. The Links panel shows missing and modified links and lets you relink, update, embed or unembed. Embedded pictures live inside the document, which keeps everything together but makes the file larger. For print work, linked is the usual choice, and packaging the job gathers linked pictures and fonts into one folder for the printer.

Tips for smoother jobs

Ask suppliers for the largest version of a photo they have, not the one from their website. Ask for logos as vector files. Keep all the pictures for a job in a folder beside the layout. Watch colour too: many pictures, especially from phones and the web, are RGB, and live preflight can flag RGB pictures in a print job so you can decide how to handle them with your colour settings.

The breadth of formats means you can start designing with whatever has arrived and improve the files as better versions come in, with the Links panel keeping track of the lot.