JPEG STRUCTUR FILE

In computing, JPEG (  [pronounced as jay-peg] is a commonly used method of lossy compressionfor digital photography (image). The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality.

JPEG compression is used in a number of image file formats. JPEG/Exif is the most common image format used by digital cameras and other photographic image capture devices; along with JPEG/JFIF, it is the most common format for storing and transmitting photographic images on the World Wide Web. These format variations are often not distinguished, and are simply called JPEG.

The term "JPEG" is an acronym for the Joint Photographic Experts Group which created the standard. The MIME media type for JPEG is image/jpeg(defined in RFC 1341), except in Internet Explorer, which provides a MIME type of image/pjpeg when uploading JPEG images.

The JPEG standard specifies the codec, which defines how an image is compressed into a stream ofbytes and decompressed back into an image, but not the file format used to contain that stream.The Exif and JFIF standards define the commonly used file formats for interchange of JPEG-compressed images.

JPEG standards are formally named as Information technology – Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still images. ISO/IEC 10918 consists of the following parts:

JPEG standard – Parts

Part	ISO/IEC standard	ITU-T Rec.	First public release date	Latest amendment	Title	Description
Part 1	ISO/IEC 10918-1:1994	T.81 (09/92)	1992		Requirements and guidelines
Part 2	ISO/IEC 10918-2:1995	T.83 (11/94)	1994		Compliance testing	rules and checks for software conformance (to Part 1)
Part 3	ISO/IEC 10918-3:1997	T.84 (07/96)	1996	1999	Extensions	set of extensions to improve the Part 1, including the SPIFF file format
Part 4	ISO/IEC 10918-4:1999	T.86 (06/98)	1998		Registration of JPEG profiles, SPIFF profiles, SPIFF tags, SPIFF colour spaces, APPn markers, SPIFF compression types and Registration Authorities (REGAUT)	methods for registering some of the parameters used to extend JPEG
Part 5	ISO/IEC FDIS 10918-5	T.871 (05/11)	(under development since 2009)		JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF)	A popular format which has been the de-facto file format for images encoded by the JPEG standard. In 2009, the JPEG Committee formally established an Ad Hoc Group to standardize JFIF as JPEG Part 5.

>*  JPEG compression

The compression method is usually lossy, meaning that some original image information is lost and cannot be restored, possibly affecting image quality. There is an optional lossless mode defined in the JPEG standard; however, this mode is not widely supported in products.

There is also an interlaced "Progressive JPEG" format, in which data are compressed in multiple passes of progressively higher detail. This is ideal for large images that will be displayed while downloading over a slow connection, allowing a reasonable preview after receiving only a portion of the data. However, progressive JPEGs are not as widely supported, and even some software which does support them (such as some versions of Internet Explorer) only displays the image once it has been completely downloaded.

There are also many medical imaging and traffic systems that create and process 12-bit JPEG images, normally grayscale images. The 12-bit JPEG format has been part of the JPEG specification for some time, but again, this format is not as widely supported.

>* JPEG files

The file format known as "JPEG Interchange Format" (JIF) is specified in Annex B of the standard. However, this "pure" file format is rarely used, primarily because of the difficulty of programming encoders and decoders that fully implement all aspects of the standard and because of certain shortcomings of the standard:

• Color space definition

• Component sub-sampling registration
• Pixel aspect ratio definition

>*  Syntax and structure

A JPEG image consists of a sequence of segments, each beginning with a marker, each of which begins with a 0xFF byte followed by a byte indicating what kind of marker it is. Some markers consist of just those two bytes; others are followed by two bytes indicating the length of marker-specific payload data that follows. (The length includes the two bytes for the length, but not the two bytes for the marker.) Some markers are followed by entropy-coded data; the length of such a marker does not include the entropy-coded data. Note that consecutive 0xFF bytes are used as fill bytes for padding purposes (see JPEG specification section B.1.1.2 for details).

Within the entropy-coded data, after any 0xFF byte, a 0x00 byte is inserted by the encoder before the next byte, so that there does not appear to be a marker where none is intended, preventing framing errors. Decoders must skip this 0x00 byte. This technique, called byte stuffing (see JPEG specification section F.1.2.3), is only applied to the entropy-coded data, not to marker payload data.

Common JPEG markers

Short name	Bytes	Payload	Name	Comments
SOI	0xFF, 0xD8	none	Start Of Image
SOF0	0xFF, 0xC0	variable size	Start Of Frame (BaselineDCT)	Indicates that this is a baseline DCT-based JPEG, and specifies the width, height, number of components, and component subsampling (e.g., 4:2:0).
SOF2	0xFF, 0xC2	variable size	Start Of Frame (Progressive DCT)	Indicates that this is a progressive DCT-based JPEG, and specifies the width, height, number of components, and component subsampling (e.g., 4:2:0).
DHT	0xFF, 0xC4	variable size	Define Huffman Table(s)	Specifies one or more Huffman tables.
DQT	0xFF, 0xDB	variable size	Define Quantization Table(s)	Specifies one or more quantization tables.
DRI	0xFF, 0xDD	2 bytes	Define Restart Interval	Specifies the interval between RSTn markers, in macroblocks. This marker is followed by two bytes indicating the fixed size so it can be treated like any other variable size segment.
SOS	0xFF, 0xDA	variable size	Start Of Scan	Begins a top-to-bottom scan of the image. In baseline DCT JPEG images, there is generally a single scan. Progressive DCT JPEG images usually contain multiple scans. This marker specifies which slice of data it will contain, and is immediately followed by entropy-coded data.
RSTn	0xFF, 0xD0 … 0xD7	none	Restart	Inserted every r macroblocks, where r is the restart interval set by a DRI marker. Not used if there was no DRI marker. The low 3 bits of the marker code cycle in value from 0 to 7.
APPn	0xFF, 0xEn	variable size	Application-specific	For example, an Exif JPEG file uses an APP1 marker to store metadata, laid out in a structure based closely on TIFF.
COM	0xFF, 0xFE	variable size	Comment	Contains a text comment.
EOI	0xFF, 0xD9	none	End Of Image

There are other Start Of Frame markers that introduce other kinds of JPEG encodings.

Since several vendors might use the same APPn marker type, application-specific markers often begin with a standard or vendor name (e.g., "Exif" or "Adobe") or some other identifying string.

At a restart marker, block-to-block predictor variables are reset, and the bitstream is synchronized to a byte boundary. Restart markers provide means for recovery after bitstream error, such as transmission over an unreliable network or file corruption. Since the runs of macroblocks between restart markers may be independently decoded, these runs may be decoded in parallel.

>*  JPEG codec example

       * Compression ratio and artifacts

       

The resulting compression ratio can be varied according to need by being more or less aggressive in the divisors used in the quantization phase. Ten to one compression usually results in an image that cannot be distinguished by eye from the original. 100 to one compression is usually possible, but will look distinctly artifacted compared to the original. The appropriate level of compression depends on the use to which the image will be put.

irregularities known as compression artifacts that appear in JPEG images, which may take the form of noise around contrasting edges (especially curves and corners), or blocky images, commonly known as 'jaggies'. These are due to the quantization step of the JPEG algorithm. They are especially noticeable around sharp corners between contrasting colors (text is a good example as it contains many such corners). The analogous artifacts in MPEGvideo are referred to as mosquito noise, as the resulting "edge busyness" and spurious dots, which change over time, resemble mosquitoes swarming around the object.

These artifacts can be reduced by choosing a lower level ofcompression; they may be eliminated by saving an image using a lossless file format, though for photographic images this will usually result in a larger file size. The images created with ray-tracing programs have noticeable blocky shapes on the terrain. Certain low-intensity compression artifacts might be acceptable when simply viewing the images, but can be emphasized if the image is subsequently processed, usually resulting in unacceptable quality. Consider the example below, demonstrating the effect of lossy compression on an edge detection processing step.

Image	Lossless compression	Lossy compression
Original
Processed by Canny edge detector

Some programs allow the user to vary the amount by which individual blocks are compressed. Stronger compression is applied to areas of the image that show fewer artifacts. This way it is possible to manually reduce JPEG file size with less loss of quality.

JPEG artifacts, like pixelation, are occasionally intentionally exploited for artistic purposes, as inJpegs, by German photographer Thomas Ruff.

Since the quantization stage always results in a loss of information, JPEG standard is always a lossy compression codec. (Information is lost both in quantizing and rounding of the floating-point numbers.) Even if the quantization matrix is a matrix of ones, information will still be lost in the rounding step.