This tutorial will explain the saving process and what each element means and what it can do for your images.

---

Step 1 If the file type does not support layers you will have to flatten your image into one layer, do this by pressing the key combination of Ctrl + Shift + F. Alternatively, it will ask you to flatten when saving if the format is non-supporting of layers.

---

Step 2 Once you have finished your piece of work and/or flattened, go to File >> Save As.

---

Step 3 In the appearing dialog you can choose where to save (you can browse in the main window or find a location through the top drop-down menu labelled 'Save in') and also name the file. The 'Save as type' drop-down and associated file types are detailed below:

---

File Types

Paint.NET (*.pdn)
Preserves layers, layer names and information, alpha values. Can only be used in Paint.NET, no image hosting services or image editors/viewers can support this file type, use only for later editing of the file.

Bitmap (BMP) (*.bmp)
Does not retain layers or alpha values. If you have the chequerboard pattern on your image it will appear white when saved in this format. Photobucket.com and Imageshack.us both accept this format.
~This is an un-compressed format and has largely been superseded by the PNG format.

GIF (*.gif)
Does not retain layers but does save alpha values. If you see the chequerboard pattern on your image it will be transparent when viewed elsewhere, although it is either transparent or not, there is no wide range of alpha values with this type. Lossless format and good for websites and animations. Photobucket.com and Imageshack.us both accept this format.

JPEG (*.jpg; *.jpeg; *.jpe; *.jfif)
Does not retain layers or alpha values and is a lossy format, meaning it will loose quality when saved. If you have the chequerboard pattern on your image it will appear white when saved in this format. Good for websites. Photobucket.com and Imageshack.us both accept this format.

PNG (*.png)
Does not retain layers but does alpha. If you see the chequerboard pattern on your image it will be transparent when viewed elsewhere. Wide range of alpha values meaning it can have anything between an alpha of 0 (fully transparent) up to 255 (fully opaque). Lossless format. Photobucket.com and Imageshack.us both accept this format.

TIFF (*.tif; *.tiff)
Does not retain layers but does alpha. If you see the chequerboard pattern on your image it will be transparent when viewed elsewhere. Wide range of alpha values meaning it can have anything between an alpha of 0 (fully transparent) up to 255 (fully opaque). Lossless format. Only Imageshack.us accepts this format.

TGA (*.tga)
Used for texture mapping in such 3D editing software as Blender and POV-Ray and also gaming screenshots of this file type are common.
Does not retain layers but does alpha. If you see the chequerboard pattern on your image it will be transparent when viewed elsewhere. Wide range of alpha values meaning it can have anything between an alpha of 0 (fully transparent) up to 255 (fully opaque). Lossless format. Neither Photobucket nor Imageshack accept this file format.

DirectDraw Surface (DDS) (*.dds)
Used for storing textures and cubic environment maps, both compressed and uncompressed. This makes the format useful for storing DXTn compressed data used in GPUs and consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
Does not support layers but does alpha. If you see the chequerboard pattern on your image it will be transparent when viewed elsewhere. Wide range of alpha values meaning it can have anything between an alpha of 0 (fully transparent) up to 255 (fully opaque). Lossless format. Neither Photobucket nor Imageshack accept this file format.

HD Photo (*.wdp; *.hdp)
Does not retain layers but does alpha. If you see the chequerboard pattern on your image it will be transparent when viewed elsewhere. Wide range of alpha values meaning it can have anything between an alpha of 0 (fully transparent) up to 255 (fully opaque). Lossless format at quality of 100 and lossy at anything less than 100. Neither Photobucket nor Imageshack accept this file format.

Icons (*.ico)
Cursors (*.cur)
Animated Cursors (*.ani)
Icons format supports layers and alpha. Help included when saving.
Cursors do not support layers but does alpha.
Animated Cursors does support layers and alpha.
If you see the chequerboard pattern on your image it will be transparent when viewed elsewhere. Wide range of alpha values meaning it can have anything between an alpha of 0 (fully transparent) up to 255 (fully opaque). Lossless format. Neither Photobucket nor Imageshack accept this file format.

Photoshop (*.psd)
Preserves layers, layer names and information, alpha values. Can be used in Paint.NET, Photoshop and other programs which support PSD files. Neither Photobucket or Imageshack accept this file format but some hosting services do. Great for transferring layered from Paint.NET to Photoshop and vice versa.