Open HEIC File

JPEG File

JPEG is short for Joint Photographic Experts Group and is an image file format which was introduced 1992. At this moment together with PNG it is the most widely used image format on the internet. According to the latest statistics it is used on 72.6% of websites on the internet.

JPEG uses lossy compression algorithm. That means that if you compress and decompress an image with JPG you will lose certain details in the image. Such losses could be unnoticeable on photos and realistic images but for images with straight lines, graphics, text JPG is typically not the best choice. For photographs though JPG typically achieves better compression results than PNG and BMP file formats.

JPEG standard defines a way on how image information should be compressed and decompressed. Format of the container file is defined by a different standard. There are two main storage formats for JPEG: Exif and JFIF. Even though both formats are used JFIF is the most popular storage format for JPG.

To store JPEG information two file extensions are used: .JPG and .JPEG. Some additional rarely used file extensions are .JFIF, .JPE and .JIF.

JPEG algorithm supports multiple level of compression. The appropriate level of compression depends on the final use of the JPEG image. Typically higher compression levels can produce certain image artifacts which could be clearly visible to the human eye. Such artifacts are especially noticeable around sharp corners of the objects and contrasting edges.

JPEG files are supported by all browsers. Also most of the graphic editors support editing and writing JPEG files. Significant number of smartphones and photo cameras use JPEG file format to store photos. In professional cameras JPEG is used along the RAW image format to store smaller snapshot of higher detail image.