Can files created in Illustrator CS2 & CS2 Photoshop be opened and edited in later program version

Question

I have a question I am hoping someone will answer for me. I am designing images in Illustrator CS2 and Photoshop CS2. They are saved as Jpegs and png files to be opened by clients in their image editing programs, using them to make digital scrapbook pages and and other projects. My clients will most likely be using recent versions of Photoshop Elements and/or recent versions of Photoshop. Will my files open fine in their more recent versions? I have been taught you can work forward (a file created in a old program version will open in a newer version) but not backward (a file created in Photoshop CS6 might not open in a older version of Photoshop). Is this correct? Also, is there anything I need to do to my files so they are compatible with current versions?
Thank you!
paper&glue 

Answer 1

Yes. They can be opened in later versions or  older versions, because the formats you mention (.JPG and .PNG) are common raster image formats, not native application-specific formats (.ai or .psd).
Be aware, though, because they are both raster image formats, they are more germane to Photoshop than to Illustrator. Illustrator can't really "open" a PNG or a JPEG for editing the way you could edit them in Photoshop (or any other raster image program). Illustrator can import them into an Illustrator file, but that's not the same thing as being able to "open" them in Photoshop and perform local editing (selecting pixels, etc., etc.).
That's true even if the JPEG or PNG was exported from Illustrator. For example, you can draw artwork native to Illustrator using vector paths, and then export a rasterized image of it in JPEG or PNG format. But don't expect someone else using Illustrator to be able to open that JPEG or PNG and still have the native Illustrator paths. They won't.
JET