Having drawn a fractal image in Mandelbrot Explorer, you can save the image to disc as a file. To do so, choose Save Image from the File menu, or use the shortcut key Ctrl+I.

Mandelbrot Explorer supports saving images to the following formats:

• .BMP is a Windows Bitmap file. These files are uncompressed, so take up maximum disc space. However, every pixel you have calculated gets saved in the correct colour, so you can then use other image editing software to process the file without losing detail before you start.
• .PNG is a file format that compresses the file without losing any data. This is known as lossless compression. As a result, the file-size is not reduced as much as it is for the other two compression file formats, but the pixel-level detail is preserved. .PNG files are not used as widely as .BMP files, so only use .PNG if you are sure the file will be usable the other end.
• .JPG is a widely used compressed file format; it is the most frequently used format in digital cameras and scanners, as a high compression ratio can be obtained. However the file format is not lossless, so you will experience some loss of detail when saving to .JPG files.
• .GIF is a Compuserve GIF file. These files achieve significant compression by restricting the colour palette of the saved file to a maximum of 256 colours. As such, they are most suitable for saving images where you know that the number of colours used is smaller, such as line-art or screen-shots. One reason to save as .GIF is if you have used the Save Zoom Series feature, and then wish to use your images in GIF-Animator softare