1The Independent JPEG Group's JPEG software
2==========================================
3
4README for release 9d of 12-Jan-2020
5====================================
6
7This distribution contains the ninth public release of the Independent JPEG
8Group's free JPEG software. You are welcome to redistribute this software and
9to use it for any purpose, subject to the conditions under LEGAL ISSUES, below.
10
11This software is the work of Tom Lane, Guido Vollbeding, Philip Gladstone,
12Bill Allombert, Jim Boucher, Lee Crocker, Bob Friesenhahn, Ben Jackson,
13John Korejwa, Julian Minguillon, Luis Ortiz, George Phillips, Davide Rossi,
14Ge' Weijers, and other members of the Independent JPEG Group.
15
16IJG is not affiliated with the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG1 standards committee
17(previously known as JPEG, together with ITU-T SG16).
18
19
20DOCUMENTATION ROADMAP
21=====================
22
23This file contains the following sections:
24
25OVERVIEW General description of JPEG and the IJG software.
26LEGAL ISSUES Copyright, lack of warranty, terms of distribution.
27REFERENCES Where to learn more about JPEG.
28ARCHIVE LOCATIONS Where to find newer versions of this software.
29ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks.
30FILE FORMAT WARS Software *not* to get.
31TO DO Plans for future IJG releases.
32
33Other documentation files in the distribution are:
34
35User documentation:
36 install.txt How to configure and install the IJG software.
37 usage.txt Usage instructions for cjpeg, djpeg, jpegtran,
38 rdjpgcom, and wrjpgcom.
39 *.1 Unix-style man pages for programs (same info as usage.txt).
40 wizard.txt Advanced usage instructions for JPEG wizards only.
41 change.log Version-to-version change highlights.
42Programmer and internal documentation:
43 libjpeg.txt How to use the JPEG library in your own programs.
44 example.c Sample code for calling the JPEG library.
45 structure.txt Overview of the JPEG library's internal structure.
46 filelist.txt Road map of IJG files.
47 coderules.txt Coding style rules --- please read if you contribute code.
48
49Please read at least the files install.txt and usage.txt. Some information
50can also be found in the JPEG FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) article. See
51ARCHIVE LOCATIONS below to find out where to obtain the FAQ article.
52
53If you want to understand how the JPEG code works, we suggest reading one or
54more of the REFERENCES, then looking at the documentation files (in roughly
55the order listed) before diving into the code.
56
57
58OVERVIEW
59========
60
61This package contains C software to implement JPEG image encoding, decoding,
62and transcoding. JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a standardized compression
63method for full-color and grayscale images.
64
65This software implements JPEG baseline, extended-sequential, and progressive
66compression processes. Provision is made for supporting all variants of these
67processes, although some uncommon parameter settings aren't implemented yet.
68We have made no provision for supporting the hierarchical or lossless
69processes defined in the standard.
70
71We provide a set of library routines for reading and writing JPEG image files,
72plus two sample applications "cjpeg" and "djpeg", which use the library to
73perform conversion between JPEG and some other popular image file formats.
74The library is intended to be reused in other applications.
75
76In order to support file conversion and viewing software, we have included
77considerable functionality beyond the bare JPEG coding/decoding capability;
78for example, the color quantization modules are not strictly part of JPEG
79decoding, but they are essential for output to colormapped file formats or
80colormapped displays. These extra functions can be compiled out of the
81library if not required for a particular application.
82
83We have also included "jpegtran", a utility for lossless transcoding between
84different JPEG processes, and "rdjpgcom" and "wrjpgcom", two simple
85applications for inserting and extracting textual comments in JFIF files.
86
87The emphasis in designing this software has been on achieving portability and
88flexibility, while also making it fast enough to be useful. In particular,
89the software is not intended to be read as a tutorial on JPEG. (See the
90REFERENCES section for introductory material.) Rather, it is intended to
91be reliable, portable, industrial-strength code. We do not claim to have
92achieved that goal in every aspect of the software, but we strive for it.
93
94We welcome the use of this software as a component of commercial products.
95No royalty is required, but we do ask for an acknowledgement in product
96documentation, as described under LEGAL ISSUES.
97
98
99LEGAL ISSUES
100============
101
102In plain English:
103
1041. We don't promise that this software works. (But if you find any bugs,
105 please let us know!)
1062. You can use this software for whatever you want. You don't have to pay us.
1073. You may not pretend that you wrote this software. If you use it in a
108 program, you must acknowledge somewhere in your documentation that
109 you've used the IJG code.
110
111In legalese:
112
113The authors make NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied,
114with respect to this software, its quality, accuracy, merchantability, or
115fitness for a particular purpose. This software is provided "AS IS", and you,
116its user, assume the entire risk as to its quality and accuracy.
117
118This software is copyright (C) 1991-2020, Thomas G. Lane, Guido Vollbeding.
119All Rights Reserved except as specified below.
120
121Permission is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
122software (or portions thereof) for any purpose, without fee, subject to these
123conditions:
124(1) If any part of the source code for this software is distributed, then this
125README file must be included, with this copyright and no-warranty notice
126unaltered; and any additions, deletions, or changes to the original files
127must be clearly indicated in accompanying documentation.
128(2) If only executable code is distributed, then the accompanying
129documentation must state that "this software is based in part on the work of
130the Independent JPEG Group".
131(3) Permission for use of this software is granted only if the user accepts
132full responsibility for any undesirable consequences; the authors accept
133NO LIABILITY for damages of any kind.
134
135These conditions apply to any software derived from or based on the IJG code,
136not just to the unmodified library. If you use our work, you ought to
137acknowledge us.
138
139Permission is NOT granted for the use of any IJG author's name or company name
140in advertising or publicity relating to this software or products derived from
141it. This software may be referred to only as "the Independent JPEG Group's
142software".
143
144We specifically permit and encourage the use of this software as the basis of
145commercial products, provided that all warranty or liability claims are
146assumed by the product vendor.
147
148
149The Unix configuration script "configure" was produced with GNU Autoconf.
150It is copyright by the Free Software Foundation but is freely distributable.
151The same holds for its supporting scripts (config.guess, config.sub,
152ltmain.sh). Another support script, install-sh, is copyright by X Consortium
153but is also freely distributable.
154
155
156REFERENCES
157==========
158
159We recommend reading one or more of these references before trying to
160understand the innards of the JPEG software.
161
162The best short technical introduction to the JPEG compression algorithm is
163 Wallace, Gregory K. "The JPEG Still Picture Compression Standard",
164 Communications of the ACM, April 1991 (vol. 34 no. 4), pp. 30-44.
165(Adjacent articles in that issue discuss MPEG motion picture compression,
166applications of JPEG, and related topics.) If you don't have the CACM issue
167handy, a PDF file containing a revised version of Wallace's article is
168available at http://www.ijg.org/files/Wallace.JPEG.pdf. The file (actually
169a preprint for an article that appeared in IEEE Trans. Consumer Electronics)
170omits the sample images that appeared in CACM, but it includes corrections
171and some added material. Note: the Wallace article is copyright ACM and IEEE,
172and it may not be used for commercial purposes.
173
174A somewhat less technical, more leisurely introduction to JPEG can be found in
175"The Data Compression Book" by Mark Nelson and Jean-loup Gailly, published by
176M&T Books (New York), 2nd ed. 1996, ISBN 1-55851-434-1. This book provides
177good explanations and example C code for a multitude of compression methods
178including JPEG. It is an excellent source if you are comfortable reading C
179code but don't know much about data compression in general. The book's JPEG
180sample code is far from industrial-strength, but when you are ready to look
181at a full implementation, you've got one here...
182
183The best currently available description of JPEG is the textbook "JPEG Still
184Image Data Compression Standard" by William B. Pennebaker and Joan L.
185Mitchell, published by Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993, ISBN 0-442-01272-1.
186Price US$59.95, 638 pp. The book includes the complete text of the ISO JPEG
187standards (DIS 10918-1 and draft DIS 10918-2).
188Although this is by far the most detailed and comprehensive exposition of
189JPEG publicly available, we point out that it is still missing an explanation
190of the most essential properties and algorithms of the underlying DCT
191technology.
192If you think that you know about DCT-based JPEG after reading this book,
193then you are in delusion. The real fundamentals and corresponding potential
194of DCT-based JPEG are not publicly known so far, and that is the reason for
195all the mistaken developments taking place in the image coding domain.
196
197The original JPEG standard is divided into two parts, Part 1 being the actual
198specification, while Part 2 covers compliance testing methods. Part 1 is
199titled "Digital Compression and Coding of Continuous-tone Still Images,
200Part 1: Requirements and guidelines" and has document numbers ISO/IEC IS
20110918-1, ITU-T T.81. Part 2 is titled "Digital Compression and Coding of
202Continuous-tone Still Images, Part 2: Compliance testing" and has document
203numbers ISO/IEC IS 10918-2, ITU-T T.83.
204IJG JPEG 8 introduced an implementation of the JPEG SmartScale extension
205which is specified in two documents: A contributed document at ITU and ISO
206with title "ITU-T JPEG-Plus Proposal for Extending ITU-T T.81 for Advanced
207Image Coding", April 2006, Geneva, Switzerland. The latest version of this
208document is Revision 3. And a contributed document ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG1 N
2095799 with title "Evolution of JPEG", June/July 2011, Berlin, Germany.
210IJG JPEG 9 introduces a reversible color transform for improved lossless
211compression which is described in a contributed document ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/
212WG1 N 6080 with title "JPEG 9 Lossless Coding", June/July 2012, Paris,
213France.
214
215The JPEG standard does not specify all details of an interchangeable file
216format. For the omitted details we follow the "JFIF" conventions, version 2.
217JFIF version 1 has been adopted as Recommendation ITU-T T.871 (05/2011) :
218Information technology - Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone
219still images: JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF). It is available as a
220free download in PDF file format from http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-T.871.
221A PDF file of the older JFIF document is available at
222http://www.w3.org/Graphics/JPEG/jfif3.pdf.
223
224The TIFF 6.0 file format specification can be obtained by FTP from
225ftp://ftp.sgi.com/graphics/tiff/TIFF6.ps.gz. The JPEG incorporation scheme
226found in the TIFF 6.0 spec of 3-June-92 has a number of serious problems.
227IJG does not recommend use of the TIFF 6.0 design (TIFF Compression tag 6).
228Instead, we recommend the JPEG design proposed by TIFF Technical Note #2
229(Compression tag 7). Copies of this Note can be obtained from
230http://www.ijg.org/files/. It is expected that the next revision
231of the TIFF spec will replace the 6.0 JPEG design with the Note's design.
232Although IJG's own code does not support TIFF/JPEG, the free libtiff library
233uses our library to implement TIFF/JPEG per the Note.
234
235
236ARCHIVE LOCATIONS
237=================
238
239The "official" archive site for this software is www.ijg.org.
240The most recent released version can always be found there in
241directory "files". This particular version will be archived as
242http://www.ijg.org/files/jpegsrc.v9d.tar.gz, and in Windows-compatible
243"zip" archive format as http://www.ijg.org/files/jpegsr9d.zip.
244
245The JPEG FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) article is a source of some
246general information about JPEG.
247It is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/
248and other news.answers archive sites, including the official news.answers
249archive at rtfm.mit.edu: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/.
250If you don't have Web or FTP access, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
251with body
252 send usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part1
253 send usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part2
254
255
256ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
257===============
258
259Thank to Juergen Bruder for providing me with a copy of the common DCT
260algorithm article, only to find out that I had come to the same result
261in a more direct and comprehensible way with a more generative approach.
262
263Thank to Istvan Sebestyen and Joan L. Mitchell for inviting me to the
264ITU JPEG (Study Group 16) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
265
266Thank to Thomas Wiegand and Gary Sullivan for inviting me to the
267Joint Video Team (MPEG & ITU) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
268
269Thank to Thomas Richter and Daniel Lee for inviting me to the
270ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG1 (previously known as JPEG, together with ITU-T SG16)
271meeting in Berlin, Germany.
272
273Thank to John Korejwa and Massimo Ballerini for inviting me to
274fruitful consultations in Boston, MA and Milan, Italy.
275
276Thank to Hendrik Elstner, Roland Fassauer, Simone Zuck, Guenther
277Maier-Gerber, Walter Stoeber, Fred Schmitz, and Norbert Braunagel
278for corresponding business development.
279
280Thank to Nico Zschach and Dirk Stelling of the technical support team
281at the Digital Images company in Halle for providing me with extra
282equipment for configuration tests.
283
284Thank to Richard F. Lyon (then of Foveon Inc.) for fruitful
285communication about JPEG configuration in Sigma Photo Pro software.
286
287Thank to Andrew Finkenstadt for hosting the ijg.org site.
288
289Thank to Thomas G. Lane for the original design and development of
290this singular software package.
291
292Thank to Lars Goehler, Andreas Heinecke, Sebastian Fuss, Yvonne Roebert,
293Andrej Werner, and Ulf-Dietrich Braumann for support and public relations.
294
295
296FILE FORMAT WARS
297================
298
299The ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG1 standards committee (previously known as JPEG,
300together with ITU-T SG16) currently promotes different formats containing
301the name "JPEG" which is misleading because these formats are incompatible
302with original DCT-based JPEG and are based on faulty technologies.
303IJG therefore does not and will not support such momentary mistakes
304(see REFERENCES).
305There exist also distributions under the name "OpenJPEG" promoting such
306kind of formats which is misleading because they don't support original
307JPEG images.
308We have no sympathy for the promotion of inferior formats. Indeed, one of
309the original reasons for developing this free software was to help force
310convergence on common, interoperable format standards for JPEG files.
311Don't use an incompatible file format!
312(In any case, our decoder will remain capable of reading existing JPEG
313image files indefinitely.)
314
315The ISO committee pretends to be "responsible for the popular JPEG" in their
316public reports which is not true because they don't respond to actual
317requirements for the maintenance of the original JPEG specification.
318Furthermore, the ISO committee pretends to "ensure interoperability" with
319their standards which is not true because their "standards" support only
320application-specific and proprietary use cases and contain mathematically
321incorrect code.
322
323There are currently different distributions in circulation containing the
324name "libjpeg" which is misleading because they don't have the features and
325are incompatible with formats supported by actual IJG libjpeg distributions.
326One of those fakes is released by members of the ISO committee and just uses
327the name of libjpeg for misdirection of people, similar to the abuse of the
328name JPEG as described above, while having nothing in common with actual IJG
329libjpeg distributions and containing mathematically incorrect code.
330The other one claims to be a "derivative" or "fork" of the original libjpeg,
331but violates the license conditions as described under LEGAL ISSUES above
332and violates basic C programming properties.
333We have no sympathy for the release of misleading, incorrect and illegal
334distributions derived from obsolete code bases.
335Don't use an obsolete code base!
336
337According to the UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) law, IJG has the lawful and
338legal right to foreclose on certain standardization bodies and other
339institutions or corporations that knowingly perform substantial and
340systematic deceptive acts and practices, fraud, theft, and damaging of the
341value of the people of this planet without their knowing, willing and
342intentional consent.
343The titles, ownership, and rights of these institutions and all their assets
344are now duly secured and held in trust for the free people of this planet.
345People of the planet, on every country, may have a financial interest in
346the assets of these former principals, agents, and beneficiaries of the
347foreclosed institutions and corporations.
348IJG asserts what is: that each man, woman, and child has unalienable value
349and rights granted and deposited in them by the Creator and not any one of
350the people is subordinate to any artificial principality, corporate fiction
351or the special interest of another without their appropriate knowing,
352willing and intentional consent made by contract or accommodation agreement.
353IJG expresses that which already was.
354The people have already determined and demanded that public administration
355entities, national governments, and their supporting judicial systems must
356be fully transparent, accountable, and liable.
357IJG has secured the value for all concerned free people of the planet.
358
359A partial list of foreclosed institutions and corporations ("Hall of Shame")
360is currently prepared and will be published later.
361
362
363TO DO
364=====
365
366Version 9 is the second release of a new generation JPEG standard
367to overcome the limitations of the original JPEG specification,
368and is the first true source reference JPEG codec.
369More features are being prepared for coming releases...
370
371Please send bug reports, offers of help, etc. to jpeg-info@jpegclub.org.
372