By intelligently discarding all the colors that the human eye can’t pick out - called lossy compression - JPEGs keep their file size as small as possible.
But this file format is still very much a mainstream favorite.Ī JPEG file can display 16.8 million colors while staying relatively small in size.
Serious photographers still shy away from shooting in JPEGs because they want to keep all the image detail for post-processing or printing. The real value came in the JPEG’s ability to store metadata - such as where and when a picture is taken, and even camera settings. Now, anyone could snap and store images in small enough files to fit on limited camera storage while displaying reasonably well. JPEG files came into their own with the advent of digital cameras and the World Wide Web. They came up with the concept of lossy compression, which removed visual data that the human eye couldn't see and averaged out color variation. That’s when a group called the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) started working on ways to bring photo-realistic pictures to small screens around the world.Īt the same time, the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) arrived on the scene and created its own standard to compress graphics files enough to work on the average PC.
In 1986, monitor technology couldn’t produce on-screen graphics. This may make JPEGs better for everyday use, but it does mean sacrificing some of the original image quality. JPEG images group together the following filename extensions:Ī JPEG file supports up to 24-bit color and uses lossy compression to compress images for more convenient storage and sending. It’s the go-to file format for digital images - and it has been ever since photographers began snapping and storing images on digital cameras and other reprographic devices. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, an international organization that standardized the format during the late 1980s and early 1990s.