PNG is a regular image without coordinate reference, GeoTIFF is a raster format with full georeferencing. PNG for viewing, GeoTIFF for GIS analysis.
| Criteria | PNG | GeoTIFF |
|---|---|---|
| Georeferencing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Browser viewing | ✓ | ✗ |
| GIS compatibility | ✗ | ✓ |
| File size | Compact | Large |
| Projections (CRS) | ✗ | ✓ |
For social media, presentations, quick map preview.
For QGIS/ArcGIS, terrain analysis, layer overlay.