Glossary of graphic design terms, J.

JPEG

extend. Joint Photographic Experts Group
abbr. JPG
JPEG is a type of file format used to compress the size of images. The downside is that there is some loss of quality in a JPEG image. This can be limited by using a high quality setting, but this results in a larger file size.

JPEGs are used less in graphic design for print these days, due to the relative cheapness of large storage devices, such as hard disks, CDs and portable hard disks – which allow the use and storgage of non-compresed graphic file formats, such as TIFF and EPS. The JPEG format is largely used to keep the file size of web images (especially photographic images) down, to enable faster downloads.