understanding the anatomy of file formats and image formats

I am trying to do some research on file formats especially image formats. Information such as header layouts for particular types of image formats and how to parse them using C++. If anyone ca开发者_StackOverflown point me in the right direction of some good tutorials or books. that would be helpful. thanks

[edit] If there are any resources on the general layout of a file format and what and what not to look out for in formats that will be beneficial as well

An indispensible source of information in this regard http://www.wotsit.org .

You can also find some good info at the Amiga File Formats page (don't get misled by the "Amiga" in the title -- many of those formats are still used, and it's a great source of information).

Also, a good source of information is magicdb.org, where you might especially be interested in the designing a new file format page. However, before you do that, be sure to check out the general purpose formats like AIFF, TIFF, IFF and RIFF -- one might suit your need, and there's no need to reinvent the wheel.