Printing and Exporting Figures with MATLAB

More About MATLAB Format Types

This section discusses the major classes of format types MATLAB supports. See the appropriate section for information to help you decide what kind of format to use.

• Built-In MATLAB and Ghostscript Formats
• Bitmap and Vector Formats
• Preserving Colors in Exported Figures
• Getting the Best Results With Bitmap Formats

Built-In MATLAB and Ghostscript Formats

As you can see in the first column of Table 4-1, some of the available formats are built-in MATLAB formats and others are provided by Ghostscript. In some cases (such as the Windows Bitmap format), the format is available both as a built-in format and a Ghostscript format. In general, when this is the case, we recommend that you choose the MATLAB format, especially if you plan to read the image back in later.

Limitations of Ghostscript Formats

Ghostscript formats have two limitations that MATLAB formats do not.

• Font support. Ghostscript formats support a limited number of fonts. If you use an unsupported font, MATLAB substitutes Courier. See PostScript and Ghostscript Supported Fonts for more information.
• Resolution. You cannot change the resolution of a Ghostscript format. The resolution is low (72 dpi) and may not be appropriate for publications.

How to Choose a File Format

Bitmap and Vector Formats