Topic: What`s the difference between saving a vector as .ai and saving as .eps? Read m

[arenawarper]

Is there any benefit to saving as an .ai file? I know that .eps files can be opened in many programs, but .ai files, I think, would only be opened in Illustrator. Should I bother saving in an .ai format?
Read more: What`s the difference between saving a vector as .AI and saving as .EPS? - Is there any benefit to saving as an .ai file? I know that .eps files can be opened in many programs, but .ai files, I think, would only be opened in Illustrator. Should I bother saving in an .ai format?

[jheysen]

AI is propetary to Illustrator, but will help you make full use of the program features while you are editing.
EPS is basically open now and supported by many programs, but I would expect some minor differences when exporting a Illustrator file to EPS. So at the end it depends on what you want to do with the image, if you are just using Illustrator, stick with .AI. If you want to include the image in a LaTeX document, you can export to EPS when it's ready and then include the EPS in LaTeX.

[annushkagoldsmen]

Our graphic design shop with an emphasis on print production, eps is still very alive and well and we follow the same workflow: .ai files are the “native” file format and can only be opened by Illustrator. So there must be a reason beyond Adobe not being up to date. or go to this forum
http://www.ai.viewertool.com/
Read more: What`s the difference between saving a vector as .AI and saving as .EPS? - Is there any benefit to saving as an .ai file? I know that .eps files can be opened in many programs, but .ai files, I think, would only be opened in Illustrator. Should I bother saving in an .ai format?
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/how-open-content-corrupt-illustrator-file/

[WeAreScrewed]

When saving from Adobe Illustrator, both .ai and .eps formats include the fully editable native Illustrator data.

There are two advantages of saving to .ai:

Decreased file size, especially if you don't select the "Create PDF Compatible File" option.
.eps is a more generic encapsulated format — many different applications can save .eps files. So by saving to the .ai format you know that the file was created in and saved from Illustrator and will be fully editable. If your .eps file loses its metadata you won't know if it has native Illustrator content or if it simply contains vector/bitmap data created in another application.

Of course, the advantage of saving to .eps is that it is a more portable format. It can be embedded in a wider variety of non-Adobe documents and applications.