There are many differences when it comes to using Vector vs. Raster. Both of these are individually beneficial in their own way depending what they are used for.

Your phone camera takes pictures of scenes and creates them into pixels. This is using the Raster imaging.

The higher the image quality, the more pixels that will be in that image to get that fine detail you are looking for. The downside to this is the image size will be bigger the more pixels there are. Photoshop is used to edit Raster images. The benefit to this is all the photoshop tools and software is optimized for editing Raster images and you have the ability to change and alter photos in a high degree of detail. The draw back to this is photo sizing. One example I can think of is if you ever have changed your computers background to a certain picture that was not sized big enough for the screen, it would look pixilated, blurry, and stretched out. Some common Raster imaging include .psd,png, and .gif.

Vector uses lines and shapes to make images that are small in size, but infinitely scalable. Vectoring images are most used for logos, text, or something that could be used for small or large images. One example is something small as a keychain to something big as a van wrap. Vector images can be converted to Photoshop, and vise versa. The only problem is losing the detail from Photoshop to Illustrator. Common Vector file formats include .pdf and .ai.

Knowing the benefits of both of these can benefit the work you are trying to accomplish. Vector uses more line work and Raster is useful for doing fine tuning in images to enhance them.

Raster vs. Vector: What’s the Difference and When to Use Which