JPG or JPEG? What is the difference & Which one to use?

Are JPG and JPEG the same, or is there a difference? Let’s dive into it. But first, what exactly is JPEG?

It is an image file format commonly used for digital photography and web graphics. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which is both a format and the name of the organisation that created it.

So why do we have two acronyms (JPG & JPEG) for the same format?

Originally, JPEG was the standard acronym. However, in 1985, Microsoft’s operating systems could only support three-character file extensions. As a result, JPEG became JPG to fit the limitations. Meanwhile, Apple’s OS had no such constraints and continued using the four-letter extension (JPEG). Over time, Microsoft adopted four-letter extensions too, but by then, JPG had already become familiar to most users, especially those on Windows.

Nowadays, both JPG and JPEG are used interchangeably, with JPG being more popular due to its shorter name and wider recognition. JPG images can also be identified by four different standard extensions: .jpe, .jif, .jfif, and .jfi.

JPEG uses lossy compression, meaning it sacrifices some image data to reduce file size. While this makes it ideal for web usage due to smaller file sizes, it also means that quality may degrade with multiple saves and edits.

There are many other formats like JPEG XL, JPEG XR, JPEG XT etc. available. Some are already developed and made public, while some are being developed by JPEG org. You can follow the development and their usage on their site here.

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