http://www.jpeg.org/ is the official home for JPEG, a graphical file format that incorporates lossy still image compression.
The [Img] package supports this format.

The [GWImage] widget supports this format.
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The name comes from the name of the group that developed the format: the Joint Photographic Experts Group.  It is extremely well suited to compression of real-world images, though if you intend to do substantial manipulation you are better off using a non-lossy compression scheme instead (such as is found in the [TIFF] format with the right options.)

Greyscale images are compressible (AIUI) in a lossless fashion as JPEG images; I think this is using a different algorithm and you might need to select the correct algorithm when doing the compression (though some utilities will scan the image first to see if this is possible.)
Files in this format frequently have an extension of .jpg .
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What is jbig ?  I've seen a reference to this library in a recent application,
but I've not been able to locate a library to build that supports it.

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And now, JPEG enters the intellectual properties legal swamp:

Forgent Sues Over JPEG Patent (Business 2:00 a.m. PDT)
http://go.hotwired.com/news/business/0,1367,63200,00.html/wn_ascii

Forgent Networks says it owns a key algorithm in the JPEG picture
format, and intends to get 31 of the computing industry's biggest
companies to pay for it. 
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[ALOVE] Realistically speaking, probably billions of web pages have been using jpegs for many years, so even if this Forgent Networks lawsuit got anywhere, it would be in the courts for years.  In other words, don't worry about it.  ^_^  


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See also [Reading JPEG Image dimensions], [Reading JPEG comments], [Writing JPEG comments]

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[Category Acronym] |
[Category Graphics]
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