What is a TGA file
TGA file extensions are generally related to TARGA image files. TARGA stands for the Truevision Advanced Raster Graphics Adapter. These files are bitmapped images that were formerly developed for the use of Truevision’s high end graphic cards which were designed for the purpose of video editing. In the animation and video industry, images with TGA file extensions are quite commonly seen. In addition, the developers of high end computer games make use of TGA file formats in order to store the texture files.
There are several ranges of bits which TGA file format can store, such as 8 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit and 32 bit. Every color available in the image is defined by using a palette. Depending on the depth of color, every pixel in the image is characterized by a particular number of bits. This is the reason why TGA image files have a rather big file size. But, by an effective use of lossless run-length encoding, the file size can be compressed to reduce the size of the file greatly.
Here's a small, but not exhaustive list of programs that can open TGA documents:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Corel Paint Shop Pro
- GIMP
- Painter
