JPG Joint Photographic Experts Group
JPG (JPEG) is the most widely used image format for photographs, standardized in 1992. It employs lossy compression to achieve significant file size reductions, typically between 90-95%, while maintaining acceptable visual quality through sophisticated algorithms. JPG is particularly effective for images with complex colors and gradients.
Supporting 24-bit color, JPG can display over 16 million colors with adjustable quality settings ranging from 1 to 100. While it excels in reducing file sizes, the lossy nature of JPG means that data is permanently discarded during compression, resulting in quality degradation with each subsequent save.
JPG has become the default choice for digital photography and online images due to its broad compatibility across devices and software. Its efficiency makes it suitable for a variety of applications, including web images, social media sharing, and email attachments, where smaller file sizes are prioritized over perfect accuracy.[1][2]