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Gimp usually saves files with .xcf extension and I have experienced loss of quality by using "export" instead of "save".

I would like to know if there is a standard way to include an .xcf file in a tikzpicture.

By the way, I tried with

  \node at (0,0){\includegraphics[height=2cm]{mypic.xcf}}

but this results in the error

Cannot determine size of graphic in flymoonCb.xcf (no BoundingBox).
stephanmg
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user126154
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    I doubt TeX can read .xcfs. Does the quality also decrease drastically if you export the image as .jpg with higher quality settings,.png or .pdf (depending on the type of image one of the formats might be more appropriate than the others). Very relevant: https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/1072/35864 – moewe Feb 28 '19 at 11:58
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    as far as I can determine no one has ever written an .xcf direct importer for TeX dvi or eps There is a gimp xcf to svg plugin and dozens of .xcf to "other" online converters however the best quality solution is probably to export to png in bitmap cases or use ghostscript/inkscape processing to eps or build pdfs with either ps or svg vectors which can be \included –  Feb 28 '19 at 13:37
  • Would be useful to have still. – stephanmg Apr 28 '20 at 07:54

1 Answers1

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Short Answer

You can not directly use the XCF file format in LaTeX, see here for an overview of supported formats.

I assume that you just exported the GIMP picture "wrong", I have good experience with PDF format or PNG format, or even JPEG format (given a good enough resolution).

Longer Answer (Copied From Wikipedia)

XCF, short for eXperimental Computing Facility,2 is the native image format of the GIMP image-editing program. It saves all of the data the program handles related to the image, including, among others, each layer, the current selection, channels, transparency, paths and guides.

[...]

Despite some use in other programs [...], the use of XCF as a data interchange format is not recommended by the developers of GIMP, since the format reflects GIMP's internal data structures and there may be minor format changes in future versions. Instead, a collaborative effort between the developers of GIMP and Krita is underway to design a standardised raster file format called OpenRaster (modelled on the OpenDocument format) for future use in both applications, and likely in others also.

Dr. Manuel Kuehner
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