Whether you’re creating a new blog post or looking for free stock photographs for your website, you’ve noticed that there are multiple file formats to choose from. There are PNG files, GIFs, and numerous other forms to consider. However, one of the most perplexing issues that marketers must address is the difference between JPG and JPEG? At first glance, these format options appear to be nearly identical.
JPG and JPEG are so close that you may have confused the two terms in the past. Despite the fact that extensions can be used interchangeably, understanding when and why each is used is crucial. If you’ve been paying attention to file extensions, you might have seen it written in a variety of ways. JPG and JPEG files may cause misunderstandings. We are here for that reason. We will explain the difference between a JPG image and a JPEG image today, so you will know what you need for your website.
What is JPEG?
Digital cameras and picture-sharing software support JPEG, which is an acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group. When you finish altering a picture and wish to save it, ‘.jpeg’ is frequently one of the options provided to you. In 1992, the International Organization for Standardization developed the first JPEG standard. (ISO). This organization, in a nutshell, develops standards for a wide range of content, resources, and services, such as online photos. JPEGs are frequently used for vivid photographs and are of excellent quality. The file format is compatible with all image types and offers 16,777,216 colors. JPEG employs lossy compression to remove extraneous data from images, thus resulting in a smaller file that loads faster.
This implies you can change the compression ratio and control the image’s size and quality. Although lowering the image size often reduces the quality, it is usually a negligible amount that the ordinary visitor will not notice.
Few of the terms used above require explanation in detail for you to understand better. So here we go:
JPEG Lossy Compression
Your website’s speed and efficiency are greatly impacted by images that are large and take a long time to load if you upload them. Website owners should optimise their photographs to reduce file sizes while maintaining loading times and user experience. That’s where JPEG comes in. JPEG is a lossy compression method designed to ensure that digital images are as small as possible and load quickly.
Here are some considerations to keep in mind when it comes to lossy compression:
- By removing unneeded (redundant) information from the image, the file size of the image being compressed is permanently reduced.
- Image quality does suffer; however, the difference is typically so subtle that the average site visitor cannot detect it.
- During the compression process, each pixel is compared to the pixels around it in a range of ratios ranging from 2:1 to 100:1. (any pixels that are the same as the original are then deleted as they are deemed redundant).
- JPEG lossy compression is commonly used to compress pictures and complicated still images.
- When you use lossy compression to compress a picture, you determine the file size and picture quality trade-off (e.g., smaller files = more inferior image quality).
- The more editing and saving you do on a single image, the lower the image quality.
Let’s say you have more experience with lossy compression. By working with RAW JPEG files, making modifications, and saving the image only once, you might be able to retain image quality while reducing file size.
If you don’t want to use JPEG lossy compression on your site’s photos, there’s always lossless compression.
Lossless compression saves your photographs in a completely new format (usually PNG). While the image quality is never compromised because no information is lost, keep in mind that the final file size of your image will always be more significant than with lossy compression. As a result, page loading speeds may be slowed.
Joint Photographic Experts Group(JPEG)
JPEG is an abbreviation for the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which is the name of the sub-committee that helped design the JPEG standard and other still image coding standards under the umbrella of the ISO.
ISO published the first JPEG standard in 1992. (International Organization for Standardization). ISO is in charge of developing papers that “…provide standards, specifications, standards, or characteristics that may be utilised consistently to guarantee that materials, products, processes, and services are suitable for purpose.”
ISO establishes standards for various products and services, including digital photographs, to provide users and consumers with the highest quality products and services. This international organisation is a non-profit organisation with over 164 nations, making it the world’s largest standard-setting body.
JPEG is a File Format
JPEG is also used to refer to a file format name or a method of storing and saving digital photos. This is most likely how you’re used to viewing JPEG because it’s one of the file formats available when you save an image after modifying it. Here are some interesting facts regarding the.jpg file format:
- The most commonly used image file format for digital cameras and other image capture equipment.
- It supports 16,777,216 colours, each of which has 8 bits in the RGB colour model.
- Can display more than 16 million colours at once, resulting in a practically flawless colour scheme and contrast resolution.
- Allows for a maximum resolution of 65,535 x 65,535 pixels.
- When an image is stored, it shrinks by around 50-75 per cent (due to lossy compression).
Finally, this file format is unsuitable for photographs with sharp edges since the colours mix more than they would be stored as a.png, displaying individual pixels as a combination.
What is JPG?
Because of earlier versions of Windows operating systems, the name JPG exists. The MS-DOS 8.3 and FAT-16 file systems, in particular, had a maximum 3-letter limit for file names, unlike UNIX-based operating systems like Mac or Linux, which did not have this constraint. Therefore, photographs saved as JPEGs on Mac or Linux systems had the extension.jpeg. To keep those same types of photos in Windows, the file extension must be trimmed to .jpg so as to not exceed the three-letter limit.
Nowadays, 3- or 4-letter file extensions such as.jpeg or.jpg are accepted by Windows operating systems. However, because so many people have been using Windows for so long and are accustomed to saving their photographs as JPGs, they have not quit. To minimise misunderstanding, photo editing applications like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP save all JPEG images by default to the.jpg file extension on both Windows and Macs.
JPG vs JPEG
If you’ve ever searched for information regarding JPEGs and JPGs, you may have come across the word JPEG 2000 and wondered what it meant. After all, most picture editing software does not provide this option.
JPEG 2000 was an image encoding scheme developed in 2000 by the Joint Photographic Experts Group intended to outperform the existing JPEG standard. It was designed to use advanced compression techniques on a discrete wavelength transformation to accomplish lossless compression on images. Using this program, individuals could optimise their photos and save them as JPEGs while maintaining image quality. The following are some of JPEG 2000’s most essential features:
- JPEG 2000, unlike standard JPEGs, was capable of both lossy and lossless compression (even on a single image file).
- Progressive Decoding: This technique allows site users to see a lower-quality version of a picture while the whole image is still downloading in the background. The visual quality for the viewer improves as additional data is downloaded.
- Higher Compression Ratios: When it comes to lossy compression, JPEG 2000 may compress an image 20-200 per cent more than JPEG while retaining the same image quality.
Furthermore, JPEG 2000:
- Provides image transparency preservation.
- Image data that is bi-level, grayscale, palette-colour, or full-colour can be described.
- Within metadata, there is an endless quantity of private or special-purpose information.
- Larger image sizes (more than 64K x 64K pixels) can be handled without tilting.
- Ultra-low latency, which is particularly beneficial for live TV content.
- Scalability in terms of resolution as well as quality.
JPEG 2000 Limitations:
Although JPEG 2000 has a lot of unique features and appears to be the next best coding standard for digital photos, there are a few reasons why it isn’t a popular file format for most people:
- There is no universal browser support (only supports Safari).
- JPEG incompatibility (must encode a new standard and support original JPEG).
- Encoding JPEG 2000 files requires a lot of CPU power, which can strain servers and slow things down.
- Because the format is not globally recognised, many websites and cameras are not ready to support it.
Because of its limitations, you won’t see the JPEG 2000 file format as an option when storing digital photographs. In addition, even though it is undoubtedly superior to JPEG, you will most likely run into a number of compatibility issues, making your work as a website owner harder than it should be.
As you can see, there is no discernible difference between JPG and JPEG. JPG was created due to a limitation in prior versions of Windows and/or DOS, and it is now the most commonly used format, surpassing JPEG.
JPG and JPEG are the most often used file extensions and compression methods for storing and saving digital photos. This is especially true for website owners who wish to present visually stunning imagery while also providing a seamless user experience. They are both widely used image formats suggested and supported by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, a group of independent experts that creates the standard for a set of compression techniques for digital photos (short for JPEG). The purpose of this compression algorithm is to minimize the size of large image files while maintaining image quality. Technically, they are the same thing, except for the number of characters used in each file extension.
When the same file is saved as both a JPG and a JPEG, it produces two identical files with the same encoding, which browsers, servers, and operating systems treat as different files. That means that the same source file might be processed in two completely distinct ways, which some websites take advantage of. For example, you can use more compression and a lower pixel count on one to create a much smaller low-resolution image and a version that is visibly larger and less damaged – but has a considerably larger file size. One provides quick loading, while the other offers optimum clarity.
There is a significant difference between JPG and JPEG – because there is none, allowing the same image to be handled in two distinct ways while utilising the same resources. It’s not the only way, and it’s not even (perhaps) the best way – but it works and will always work. That is not insignificant.
Conclusion
JPEG and JPG files, whatever you call them, are useful for web programming and image management. You can use these files to compress your images for a faster and more convenient web view. Moreover, JPEG and JPG photographs are among the most popular in the digital world, so you should not have any trouble finding plugins and themes that accept JPEGs.
In any case, whether you use .jpeg, .jpg, or .webp files, you’ll get the same result: stunning images that load lightning fast for site visitors.