• Home
  • Line#
  • Scopes#
  • Navigate#
  • Raw
  • Download
1The JPEG decoder in SANE is taken mostly without change from The
2Independent JPEG Group's JPEG software, release 6a.  Their "djpeg.README"
3file is included below.  The only changes are to file names, e.g.
4djpeg.c -> sanei_jpeg.c, and function names,
5e.g. sanei_jpeg_start_output_ppm()
6
7
8The Independent JPEG Group's JPEG software
9==========================================
10
11README for release 6a of 7-Feb-96
12=================================
13
14This distribution contains the sixth public release of the Independent JPEG
15Group's free JPEG software.  You are welcome to redistribute this software and
16to use it for any purpose, subject to the conditions under LEGAL ISSUES, below.
17
18Serious users of this software (particularly those incorporating it into
19larger programs) should contact IJG at jpeg-info@uunet.uu.net to be added to
20our electronic mailing list.  Mailing list members are notified of updates
21and have a chance to participate in technical discussions, etc.
22
23This software is the work of Tom Lane, Philip Gladstone, Luis Ortiz, Jim
24Boucher, Lee Crocker, Julian Minguillon, George Phillips, Davide Rossi,
25Ge' Weijers, and other members of the Independent JPEG Group.
26
27IJG is not affiliated with the official ISO JPEG standards committee.
28
29
30DOCUMENTATION ROADMAP
31=====================
32
33This file contains the following sections:
34
35OVERVIEW            General description of JPEG and the IJG software.
36LEGAL ISSUES        Copyright, lack of warranty, terms of distribution.
37REFERENCES          Where to learn more about JPEG.
38ARCHIVE LOCATIONS   Where to find newer versions of this software.
39RELATED SOFTWARE    Other stuff you should get.
40FILE FORMAT WARS    Software *not* to get.
41TO DO               Plans for future IJG releases.
42
43Other documentation files in the distribution are:
44
45User documentation:
46  install.doc       How to configure and install the IJG software.
47  usage.doc         Usage instructions for cjpeg, djpeg, jpegtran,
48                    rdjpgcom, and wrjpgcom.
49  *.1               Unix-style man pages for programs (same info as usage.doc).
50  wizard.doc        Advanced usage instructions for JPEG wizards only.
51  change.log        Version-to-version change highlights.
52Programmer and internal documentation:
53  libjpeg.doc       How to use the JPEG library in your own programs.
54  example.c         Sample code for calling the JPEG library.
55  structure.doc     Overview of the JPEG library's internal structure.
56  filelist.doc      Road map of IJG files.
57  coderules.doc     Coding style rules --- please read if you contribute code.
58
59Please read at least the files install.doc and usage.doc.  Useful information
60can also be found in the JPEG FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) article.  See
61ARCHIVE LOCATIONS below to find out where to obtain the FAQ article.
62
63If you want to understand how the JPEG code works, we suggest reading one or
64more of the REFERENCES, then looking at the documentation files (in roughly
65the order listed) before diving into the code.
66
67
68OVERVIEW
69========
70
71This package contains C software to implement JPEG image compression and
72decompression.  JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a standardized compression
73method for full-color and gray-scale images.  JPEG is intended for compressing
74"real-world" scenes; line drawings, cartoons and other non-realistic images
75are not its strong suit.  JPEG is lossy, meaning that the output image is not
76exactly identical to the input image.  Hence you must not use JPEG if you
77have to have identical output bits.  However, on typical photographic images,
78very good compression levels can be obtained with no visible change, and
79remarkably high compression levels are possible if you can tolerate a
80low-quality image.  For more details, see the references, or just experiment
81with various compression settings.
82
83This software implements JPEG baseline, extended-sequential, and progressive
84compression processes.  Provision is made for supporting all variants of these
85processes, although some uncommon parameter settings aren't implemented yet.
86For legal reasons, we are not distributing code for the arithmetic-coding
87variants of JPEG; see LEGAL ISSUES.  We have made no provision for supporting
88the hierarchical or lossless processes defined in the standard.
89
90We provide a set of library routines for reading and writing JPEG image files,
91plus two sample applications "cjpeg" and "djpeg", which use the library to
92perform conversion between JPEG and some other popular image file formats.
93The library is intended to be reused in other applications.
94
95In order to support file conversion and viewing software, we have included
96considerable functionality beyond the bare JPEG coding/decoding capability;
97for example, the color quantization modules are not strictly part of JPEG
98decoding, but they are essential for output to colormapped file formats or
99colormapped displays.  These extra functions can be compiled out of the
100library if not required for a particular application.  We have also included
101"jpegtran", a utility for lossless transcoding between different JPEG
102processes, and "rdjpgcom" and "wrjpgcom", two simple applications for
103inserting and extracting textual comments in JFIF files.
104
105The emphasis in designing this software has been on achieving portability and
106flexibility, while also making it fast enough to be useful.  In particular,
107the software is not intended to be read as a tutorial on JPEG.  (See the
108REFERENCES section for introductory material.)  Rather, it is intended to
109be reliable, portable, industrial-strength code.  We do not claim to have
110achieved that goal in every aspect of the software, but we strive for it.
111
112We welcome the use of this software as a component of commercial products.
113No royalty is required, but we do ask for an acknowledgement in product
114documentation, as described under LEGAL ISSUES.
115
116
117LEGAL ISSUES
118============
119
120In plain English:
121
1221. We don't promise that this software works.  (But if you find any bugs,
123   please let us know!)
1242. You can use this software for whatever you want.  You don't have to pay us.
1253. You may not pretend that you wrote this software.  If you use it in a
126   program, you must acknowledge somewhere in your documentation that
127   you've used the IJG code.
128
129In legalese:
130
131The authors make NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied,
132with respect to this software, its quality, accuracy, merchantability, or
133fitness for a particular purpose.  This software is provided "AS IS", and you,
134its user, assume the entire risk as to its quality and accuracy.
135
136This software is copyright (C) 1991-1996, Thomas G. Lane.
137All Rights Reserved except as specified below.
138
139Permission is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
140software (or portions thereof) for any purpose, without fee, subject to these
141conditions:
142(1) If any part of the source code for this software is distributed, then this
143README file must be included, with this copyright and no-warranty notice
144unaltered; and any additions, deletions, or changes to the original files
145must be clearly indicated in accompanying documentation.
146(2) If only executable code is distributed, then the accompanying
147documentation must state that "this software is based in part on the work of
148the Independent JPEG Group".
149(3) Permission for use of this software is granted only if the user accepts
150full responsibility for any undesirable consequences; the authors accept
151NO LIABILITY for damages of any kind.
152
153These conditions apply to any software derived from or based on the IJG code,
154not just to the unmodified library.  If you use our work, you ought to
155acknowledge us.
156
157Permission is NOT granted for the use of any IJG author's name or company name
158in advertising or publicity relating to this software or products derived from
159it.  This software may be referred to only as "the Independent JPEG Group's
160software".
161
162We specifically permit and encourage the use of this software as the basis of
163commercial products, provided that all warranty or liability claims are
164assumed by the product vendor.
165
166
167ansi2knr.c is included in this distribution by permission of L. Peter Deutsch,
168sole proprietor of its copyright holder, Aladdin Enterprises of Menlo Park, CA.
169ansi2knr.c is NOT covered by the above copyright and conditions, but instead
170by the usual distribution terms of the Free Software Foundation; principally,
171that you must include source code if you redistribute it.  (See the file
172ansi2knr.c for full details.)  However, since ansi2knr.c is not needed as part
173of any program generated from the IJG code, this does not limit you more than
174the foregoing paragraphs do.
175
176The configuration script "configure" was produced with GNU Autoconf.  It
177is copyright by the Free Software Foundation but is freely distributable.
178
179It appears that the arithmetic coding option of the JPEG spec is covered by
180patents owned by IBM, AT&T, and Mitsubishi.  Hence arithmetic coding cannot
181legally be used without obtaining one or more licenses.  For this reason,
182support for arithmetic coding has been removed from the free JPEG software.
183(Since arithmetic coding provides only a marginal gain over the unpatented
184Huffman mode, it is unlikely that very many implementations will support it.)
185So far as we are aware, there are no patent restrictions on the remaining
186code.
187
188WARNING: Unisys has begun to enforce their patent on LZW compression against
189GIF encoders and decoders.  You will need a license from Unisys to use the
190included rdgif.c or wrgif.c files in a commercial or shareware application.
191At this time, Unisys is not enforcing their patent against freeware, so
192distribution of this package remains legal.  However, we intend to remove
193GIF support from the IJG package as soon as a suitable replacement format
194becomes reasonably popular.
195
196We are required to state that
197    "The Graphics Interchange Format(c) is the Copyright property of
198    CompuServe Incorporated.  GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of
199    CompuServe Incorporated."
200
201
202REFERENCES
203==========
204
205We highly recommend reading one or more of these references before trying to
206understand the innards of the JPEG software.
207
208The best short technical introduction to the JPEG compression algorithm is
209	Wallace, Gregory K.  "The JPEG Still Picture Compression Standard",
210	Communications of the ACM, April 1991 (vol. 34 no. 4), pp. 30-44.
211(Adjacent articles in that issue discuss MPEG motion picture compression,
212applications of JPEG, and related topics.)  If you don't have the CACM issue
213handy, a PostScript file containing a revised version of Wallace's article
214is available at ftp.uu.net, graphics/jpeg/wallace.ps.gz.  The file (actually
215a preprint for an article that appeared in IEEE Trans. Consumer Electronics)
216omits the sample images that appeared in CACM, but it includes corrections
217and some added material.  Note: the Wallace article is copyright ACM and
218IEEE, and it may not be used for commercial purposes.
219
220A somewhat less technical, more leisurely introduction to JPEG can be found in
221"The Data Compression Book" by Mark Nelson, published by M&T Books (Redwood
222City, CA), 1991, ISBN 1-55851-216-0.  This book provides good explanations and
223example C code for a multitude of compression methods including JPEG.  It is
224an excellent source if you are comfortable reading C code but don't know much
225about data compression in general.  The book's JPEG sample code is far from
226industrial-strength, but when you are ready to look at a full implementation,
227you've got one here...
228
229The best full description of JPEG is the textbook "JPEG Still Image Data
230Compression Standard" by William B. Pennebaker and Joan L. Mitchell, published
231by Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993, ISBN 0-442-01272-1.  Price US$59.95, 638 pp.
232The book includes the complete text of the ISO JPEG standards (DIS 10918-1
233and draft DIS 10918-2).  This is by far the most complete exposition of JPEG
234in existence, and we highly recommend it.
235
236The JPEG standard itself is not available electronically; you must order a
237paper copy through ISO or ITU.  (Unless you feel a need to own a certified
238official copy, we recommend buying the Pennebaker and Mitchell book instead;
239it's much cheaper and includes a great deal of useful explanatory material.)
240In the USA, copies of the standard may be ordered from ANSI Sales at (212)
241642-4900, or from Global Engineering Documents at (800) 854-7179.  (ANSI
242doesn't take credit card orders, but Global does.)  It's not cheap: as of
2431992, ANSI was charging $95 for Part 1 and $47 for Part 2, plus 7%
244shipping/handling.  The standard is divided into two parts, Part 1 being the
245actual specification, while Part 2 covers compliance testing methods.  Part 1
246is titled "Digital Compression and Coding of Continuous-tone Still Images,
247Part 1: Requirements and guidelines" and has document numbers ISO/IEC IS
24810918-1, ITU-T T.81.  Part 2 is titled "Digital Compression and Coding of
249Continuous-tone Still Images, Part 2: Compliance testing" and has document
250numbers ISO/IEC IS 10918-2, ITU-T T.83.
251
252Extensions to the original JPEG standard are defined in JPEG Part 3, a new ISO
253document.  Part 3 is undergoing ISO balloting and is expected to be approved
254by the end of 1995; it will have document numbers ISO/IEC IS 10918-3, ITU-T
255T.84.  IJG currently does not support any Part 3 extensions.
256
257The JPEG standard does not specify all details of an interchangeable file
258format.  For the omitted details we follow the "JFIF" conventions, revision
2591.02.  A copy of the JFIF spec is available from:
260	Literature Department
261	C-Cube Microsystems, Inc.
262	1778 McCarthy Blvd.
263	Milpitas, CA 95035
264	phone (408) 944-6300,  fax (408) 944-6314
265A PostScript version of this document is available at ftp.uu.net, file
266graphics/jpeg/jfif.ps.gz.  It can also be obtained by e-mail from the C-Cube
267mail server, netlib@c3.pla.ca.us.  Send the message "send jfif_ps from jpeg"
268to the server to obtain the JFIF document; send the message "help" if you have
269trouble.
270
271The TIFF 6.0 file format specification can be obtained by FTP from sgi.com
272(192.48.153.1), file graphics/tiff/TIFF6.ps.Z; or you can order a printed
273copy from Aldus Corp. at (206) 628-6593.  The JPEG incorporation scheme
274found in the TIFF 6.0 spec of 3-June-92 has a number of serious problems.
275IJG does not recommend use of the TIFF 6.0 design (TIFF Compression tag 6).
276Instead, we recommend the JPEG design proposed by TIFF Technical Note #2
277(Compression tag 7).  Copies of this Note can be obtained from sgi.com or
278from ftp.uu.net:/graphics/jpeg/.  It is expected that the next revision of
279the TIFF spec will replace the 6.0 JPEG design with the Note's design.
280Although IJG's own code does not support TIFF/JPEG, the free libtiff library
281uses our library to implement TIFF/JPEG per the Note.  libtiff is available
282from sgi.com:/graphics/tiff/.
283
284
285ARCHIVE LOCATIONS
286=================
287
288The "official" archive site for this software is ftp.uu.net (Internet
289address 192.48.96.9).  The most recent released version can always be found
290there in directory graphics/jpeg.  This particular version will be archived
291as graphics/jpeg/jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz.  If you are on the Internet, you
292can retrieve files from ftp.uu.net by standard anonymous FTP.  If you don't
293have FTP access, UUNET's archives are also available via UUCP; contact
294help@uunet.uu.net for information on retrieving files that way.
295
296Numerous Internet sites maintain copies of the UUNET files.  However, only
297ftp.uu.net is guaranteed to have the latest official version.
298
299You can also obtain this software in DOS-compatible "zip" archive format from
300the SimTel archives (ftp.coast.net:/SimTel/msdos/graphics/), or on CompuServe
301in the Graphics Support forum (GO CIS:GRAPHSUP), library 12 "JPEG Tools".
302Again, these versions may sometimes lag behind the ftp.uu.net release.
303
304The JPEG FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) article is a useful source of
305general information about JPEG.  It is updated constantly and therefore is
306not included in this distribution.  The FAQ is posted every two weeks to
307Usenet newsgroups comp.graphics.misc, news.answers, and other groups.
308You can always obtain the latest version from the news.answers archive at
309rtfm.mit.edu.  By FTP, fetch /pub/usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part1 and
310.../part2.  If you don't have FTP, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
311with body
312	send usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part1
313	send usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part2
314
315
316RELATED SOFTWARE
317================
318
319Numerous viewing and image manipulation programs now support JPEG.  (Quite a
320few of them use this library to do so.)  The JPEG FAQ described above lists
321some of the more popular free and shareware viewers, and tells where to
322obtain them on Internet.
323
324If you are on a Unix machine, we highly recommend Jef Poskanzer's free
325PBMPLUS image software, which provides many useful operations on PPM-format
326image files.  In particular, it can convert PPM images to and from a wide
327range of other formats.  You can obtain this package by FTP from ftp.x.org
328(contrib/pbmplus*.tar.Z) or ftp.ee.lbl.gov (pbmplus*.tar.Z).  There is also
329a newer update of this package called NETPBM, available from
330wuarchive.wustl.edu under directory /graphics/graphics/packages/NetPBM/.
331Unfortunately PBMPLUS/NETPBM is not nearly as portable as the IJG software
332is; you are likely to have difficulty making it work on any non-Unix machine.
333
334A different free JPEG implementation, written by the PVRG group at Stanford,
335is available from havefun.stanford.edu in directory pub/jpeg.  This program
336is designed for research and experimentation rather than production use;
337it is slower, harder to use, and less portable than the IJG code, but it
338is easier to read and modify.  Also, the PVRG code supports lossless JPEG,
339which we do not.
340
341
342FILE FORMAT WARS
343================
344
345Some JPEG programs produce files that are not compatible with our library.
346The root of the problem is that the ISO JPEG committee failed to specify a
347concrete file format.  Some vendors "filled in the blanks" on their own,
348creating proprietary formats that no one else could read.  (For example, none
349of the early commercial JPEG implementations for the Macintosh were able to
350exchange compressed files.)
351
352The file format we have adopted is called JFIF (see REFERENCES).  This format
353has been agreed to by a number of major commercial JPEG vendors, and it has
354become the de facto standard.  JFIF is a minimal or "low end" representation.
355We recommend the use of TIFF/JPEG (TIFF revision 6.0 as modified by TIFF
356Technical Note #2) for "high end" applications that need to record a lot of
357additional data about an image.  TIFF/JPEG is fairly new and not yet widely
358supported, unfortunately.
359
360The upcoming JPEG Part 3 standard defines a file format called SPIFF.
361SPIFF is interoperable with JFIF, in the sense that most JFIF decoders should
362be able to read the most common variant of SPIFF.  SPIFF has some technical
363advantages over JFIF, but its major claim to fame is simply that it is an
364official standard rather than an informal one.  At this point it is unclear
365whether SPIFF will supersede JFIF or whether JFIF will remain the de-facto
366standard.  IJG intends to support SPIFF once the standard is frozen, but we
367have not decided whether it should become our default output format or not.
368(In any case, our decoder will remain capable of reading JFIF indefinitely.)
369
370Various proprietary file formats incorporating JPEG compression also exist.
371We have little or no sympathy for the existence of these formats.  Indeed,
372one of the original reasons for developing this free software was to help
373force convergence on common, open format standards for JPEG files.  Don't
374use a proprietary file format!
375
376
377TO DO
378=====
379
380In future versions, we are considering supporting some of the upcoming JPEG
381Part 3 extensions --- principally, variable quantization and the SPIFF file
382format.
383
384Tuning the software for better behavior at low quality/high compression
385settings is also of interest.  The current method for scaling the
386quantization tables is known not to be very good at low Q values.
387
388As always, speeding things up is high on our priority list.
389
390Please send bug reports, offers of help, etc. to jpeg-info@uunet.uu.net.
391