The National Archives
Search our website
  • Search our website
  • Search our records
   
 
Image of software box and CD PRONOM
Welcome (PRONOM  home page) About PRONOM Add an entry
Search Help - opens in a new window Information resources - opens in a new window
 
 
 

*Details: File format summary

   
 

 

Search by keyword Search by file format Search by PUID Search by software Search by vendor Search by lifecycles Search by Migration Pathway

Details for:

Save as... XML | CSV Printer friendly version
 
Go to:  Summary  |  Documentation  |  Signatures  |  Compression |  Character encoding  |  Rights  |  Reference files   Properties  
 

Compression Types

Baseline JPEG  
Other names Discrete Cosine Transform, DCT, JPEG
Identifier(s) PUID:  x-cmp/11
Family  
Description The JPEG compression algorithm was developed in 1990 by the Joint Photographic Experts Group of ISO and CCITT, for the transmission of colour and greyscale images. It is a lossy technique which provides best compression rates with complex 24-bit (True Colour) images. It achieves its effect by discarding image data which is imperceptible to the human eye, using a technique called Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). It then applies Huffman encoding to achieve further compression. The JPEG specification allows users to set the degree of compression, using an abstract Quality Setting. This provides a trade-off between compression rate and image quality. It is important to note that the Quality Setting is not an absolute value, with different JPEG encoders use different scales, and that even the maximum quality setting for baseline JPEG involves some loss. JPEG compression is most commonly used in the JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF), SPIFF and TIFF.
Lossiness Lossy
Released 01 Jan 1994
Withdrawn  
Developed by International Standards Organisation
Supported by
Documentation ISO/IEC 10918-1: 1994, Information technology - Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still images: Requirements and guidelines
Rights  
Note  
Top of page Top of page
 
         
The National Archives Newsletter Icon

Send me The National Archives’ newsletter

A monthly round-up of news, blogs, offers and events.