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 is 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 versions of Internet Explorer before Windows 7) only displays the image after 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.
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Famous quotes containing the word compression:
“Do they [the publishers of Murphy] not understand that if the book is slightly obscure it is because it is a compression and that to compress it further can only make it more obscure?”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)