JPEG

Overview

JPEG compresses photographic images by discarding details that are hard for the eye to notice. It keeps files small for photos and camera output, but it does not support transparency and quality drops every time the file is re-encoded.

Typical use cases

• Photographs
• Web images
• Camera output
• Social media uploads

Advantages

• Small files for photographic content
• Universal support on cameras, devices, and the web
• Fast to decode and share

Disadvantages

• No transparency
• Recompression degrades quality
• Poor for text and line art

How to open or use it

Open JPEG files in any browser, image viewer, camera app, or editor. Windows Photos, macOS Preview, Photoshop, GIMP, and most web tools read JPEG natively.