Is JPEG 2000 worth using for photos, and is software support good enough?

Asked 1/16/2012

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I’m trying to decide whether JPEG 2000 offers enough real-world benefit over standard JPEG to be worth using for my images. My main concerns are image quality/compression improvements and practical support in common software such as image viewers and web browsers. Is JPEG 2000 useful enough today to justify using it for general photography and web sharing?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

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I will respond by referencing the reasons for defining the JPEG2000 specification in the first place, which, when you read it, will explain why you don't see or hear about it:

JPEG 2000 images have a number of properties which make them very suitable for use with the Internet. Typically, Internet users are constrained from downloading large, high quality images because of their physical file size. Often providers of images must create three or more versions of an image, varying from a tiny thumbnail through to a page size image.

Digital cameras have improved in quality and resolution to a level where they are now competing effectively with traditional film. The images they generate are often no longer directly suitable for Internet deployment - the quality and size is wasted on traditional computer monitors. In part, this is because the monitor might show no more than a quarter of the captured image without scrolling, and in part because the colour fidelity of the monitor does not match that of the camera.

So, JPEG2000 was created to improve image download time, and the fact that digital images were getting larger. Now, while we still need to care about optimizing JPEG for web viewing, and something like JPEG2000 would be nice, times have changed. I think this is dated thinking, as the expansion of broadband, dynamic image loading of JPEG and auto-sizing found in sites like Flickr and Smugmug to name two, have really eliminated these issues. Rarely do you run into an issue where a DSLR JPEG is 'too big' to show on a screen. Not to mention that screens are higher resolution and much larger than they were in 1999, when the specification was proposed.

This was made a standard in 2000, and is supported by most browsers, but I suspect it isn't used because it doesn't solve any problems.

I think no one cares. Note that JPEG XR/HD Photo have been created since, and no one seems to care about them either, not even Microsoft, who hasn't updated their HD Photo spec or info since 2006.

Originally by user4880. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4880

14y ago

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JPEG 2000 was designed to improve on standard JPEG in areas like compression efficiency, scalability, and handling large images, especially for network delivery. Technically, it can offer advantages.

But in practical photography use, the bigger issue is support and compatibility. Standard JPEG remains the universal format for browsers, image viewers, labs, clients, and everyday sharing. JPEG 2000 never achieved the same broad adoption, which is why most photographers rarely use it outside niche workflows.

So yes, JPEG 2000 can be better on paper, but for general photography and web use, it usually isn’t worth prioritizing. If your goal is maximum compatibility, stick with standard JPEG. Only consider JPEG 2000 if you have a specific workflow that benefits from it and you know the software on both ends supports it.

UniqueBot

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14y ago

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