JPEG and JPG are a variety of a digital image format that is commonly used for photographs, especially those that exist with a high resolution. JPEG files work well with most types of screens & is a suitable format for use on social media sites. People commonly use JPEGs as photos on social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook, because the JPEG allows them to save space & doesn’t reduce the quality as much as a file with a lower quality.
Even though the JIF, JPEG, & JPG file extensions may sound different, they basically mean the same thing. It’s important to understand the file format’s tangled history if we wish to understand why it has so many names.
Compression Ratio For JPEG vs JPG
The compression ratio refers to the ratio of the size of the original image to the size of the compressed version. When compressed images are decompressed, this ratio is displayed. JPEGs usually have a higher compression ratio than JPG. This results in a noticeable difference between the compressed and uncompressed file sizes.
GIF Before JPEG
Before there was JPEG, there was JIF, later called GIF. The Graphics Interchange Format was the file format developed by CompuServe for transmitting images Online. It, too, was limited to a palette of 256 colors. In 1987, Steve Wilhite took a version of the format called CompuServe GIF & declared it the Graphics Interchange Format, or GIF. “It’s pronounced ‘jif’ like ‘gift,'” he said.
In 1993, CompuServe introduced another version of GIF called the Graphics Interchange Format. This one wasn’t limited to 256 colors, but held up to 1,048,576 colors.
JIF grew out of the demand for more color choices. As graphics on the Internet expanded, so did the need for more colors in the GIF format.
The JPEG format was first invented in 1987 as a popular successor to the earlier GIF file format. It was designed to give digital photos better quality, but it was most effective with photographic-type images rather than drawings.
JPEG images start with a compression method that compresses the image into a format that’s a combination of a grid and a random ordering of color information. The images are not lossless, but the images are still fairly accurate. The JPEG image quality is often considered to be much higher than its closest rival, the PNG file.
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the committee that developed this image format. This image format is based on the Group 4 and Group 3 standard & it is intended for compressing digital images, particularly for photographic images. It uses a lossy compression algorithm based on discrete cosine transform (DCT). The JPEG file format is platform independent.
This file format is most commonly used to compress images, such as photographs. However, it can also be used to compress other types of data.
PNG, on the other hand, stands for Portable Network Graphics & is a relatively new image format that was developed by the PNG Development Group. PNG uses lossless compression and can support any bit depth (other than grayscale).
PNG is more suited for storing photos as it can also compress colors without loss.
Here are a few of the reasons why you should use a format such as JPEG over the PNG:
1. JPEG is used on all operating systems, whereas PNG can only be used on certain platforms.
2. JPEG is used for storing high quality images while PNG is better suited for storing low quality photos.
3. JPEG can be re-compressed into PNG format, which means you do not have to pay extra costs when you go to transfer your photos to another platform.
In conclusion: Even though the JPEG, & JPG file extensions may sound different, they basically mean the same thing. The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), too, is a very popular image format. It is most commonly used on social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook. GIFs are also a popular digital image format. The most common file extension for GIFs is .gif. To make a GIF, there are two ways to go about it. The first way is to use high resolution photographs & the second way is to create an animation. JPEG is used on all operating systems, whereas PNG can only be used on certain platforms.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
