The Truevision Graphics Adapter (TGA) file format, often associated with the .tga extension, is a raster graphics file format originally designed for use with Truevision's TARGA and VISTA series of graphics cards. It is a relatively simple format that supports both indexed color and direct color (RGB) images, as well as optional alpha channels for transparency. TGA files can store images with varying bit depths, including 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit color. The format is known for its uncompressed or lossless RLE (Run-Length Encoding) compression options, which preserve image quality but can result in larger file sizes compared to more modern compressed image formats. While not as widely used as formats like JPEG or PNG for web images due to its larger file sizes, TGA remains a popular choice in certain professional graphics applications, particularly in video game development and animation, where lossless quality and alpha channel support are crucial. It's also used in some scientific and medical imaging applications.