1Advanced usage instructions for the Independent JPEG Group's JPEG software 2========================================================================== 3 4This file describes cjpeg's "switches for wizards". 5 6The "wizard" switches are intended for experimentation with JPEG by persons 7who are reasonably knowledgeable about the JPEG standard. If you don't know 8what you are doing, DON'T USE THESE SWITCHES. You'll likely produce files 9with worse image quality and/or poorer compression than you'd get from the 10default settings. Furthermore, these switches must be used with caution 11when making files intended for general use, because not all JPEG decoders 12will support unusual JPEG parameter settings. 13 14 15Quantization Table Adjustment 16----------------------------- 17 18Ordinarily, cjpeg starts with a default set of tables (the same ones given 19as examples in the JPEG standard) and scales them up or down according to 20the -quality setting. The details of the scaling algorithm can be found in 21jcparam.c. At very low quality settings, some quantization table entries 22can get scaled up to values exceeding 255. Although 2-byte quantization 23values are supported by the IJG software, this feature is not in baseline 24JPEG and is not supported by all implementations. If you need to ensure 25wide compatibility of low-quality files, you can constrain the scaled 26quantization values to no more than 255 by giving the -baseline switch. 27Note that use of -baseline will result in poorer quality for the same file 28size, since more bits than necessary are expended on higher AC coefficients. 29 30You can substitute a different set of quantization values by using the 31-qtables switch: 32 33 -qtables file Use the quantization tables given in the named file. 34 35The specified file should be a text file containing decimal quantization 36values. The file should contain one to four tables, each of 64 elements. 37The tables are implicitly numbered 0,1,etc. in order of appearance. Table 38entries appear in normal array order (NOT in the zigzag order in which they 39will be stored in the JPEG file). 40 41Quantization table files are free format, in that arbitrary whitespace can 42appear between numbers. Also, comments can be included: a comment starts 43with '#' and extends to the end of the line. Here is an example file that 44duplicates the default quantization tables: 45 46 # Quantization tables given in JPEG spec, section K.1 47 48 # This is table 0 (the luminance table): 49 16 11 10 16 24 40 51 61 50 12 12 14 19 26 58 60 55 51 14 13 16 24 40 57 69 56 52 14 17 22 29 51 87 80 62 53 18 22 37 56 68 109 103 77 54 24 35 55 64 81 104 113 92 55 49 64 78 87 103 121 120 101 56 72 92 95 98 112 100 103 99 57 58 # This is table 1 (the chrominance table): 59 17 18 24 47 99 99 99 99 60 18 21 26 66 99 99 99 99 61 24 26 56 99 99 99 99 99 62 47 66 99 99 99 99 99 99 63 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 64 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 65 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 66 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 67 68If the -qtables switch is used without -quality, then the specified tables 69are used exactly as-is. If both -qtables and -quality are used, then the 70tables taken from the file are scaled in the same fashion that the default 71tables would be scaled for that quality setting. If -baseline appears, then 72the quantization values are constrained to the range 1-255. 73 74By default, cjpeg will use quantization table 0 for luminance components and 75table 1 for chrominance components. To override this choice, use the -qslots 76switch: 77 78 -qslots N[,...] Select which quantization table to use for 79 each color component. 80 81The -qslots switch specifies a quantization table number for each color 82component, in the order in which the components appear in the JPEG SOF marker. 83For example, to create a separate table for each of Y,Cb,Cr, you could 84provide a -qtables file that defines three quantization tables and say 85"-qslots 0,1,2". If -qslots gives fewer table numbers than there are color 86components, then the last table number is repeated as necessary. 87 88 89Sampling Factor Adjustment 90-------------------------- 91 92By default, cjpeg uses 2:1 horizontal and vertical downsampling when 93compressing YCbCr data, and no downsampling for all other color spaces. 94You can override this default with the -sample switch: 95 96 -sample HxV[,...] Set JPEG sampling factors for each color 97 component. 98 99The -sample switch specifies the JPEG sampling factors for each color 100component, in the order in which they appear in the JPEG SOF marker. 101If you specify fewer HxV pairs than there are components, the remaining 102components are set to 1x1 sampling. For example, the default YCbCr setting 103is equivalent to "-sample 2x2,1x1,1x1", which can be abbreviated to 104"-sample 2x2". 105 106There are still some JPEG decoders in existence that support only 2x1 107sampling (also called 4:2:2 sampling). Compatibility with such decoders can 108be achieved by specifying "-sample 2x1". This is not recommended unless 109really necessary, since it increases file size and encoding/decoding time 110with very little quality gain. 111 112 113Multiple Scan / Progression Control 114----------------------------------- 115 116By default, cjpeg emits a single-scan sequential JPEG file. The 117-progressive switch generates a progressive JPEG file using a default series 118of progression parameters. You can create multiple-scan sequential JPEG 119files or progressive JPEG files with custom progression parameters by using 120the -scans switch: 121 122 -scans file Use the scan sequence given in the named file. 123 124The specified file should be a text file containing a "scan script". 125The script specifies the contents and ordering of the scans to be emitted. 126Each entry in the script defines one scan. A scan definition specifies 127the components to be included in the scan, and for progressive JPEG it also 128specifies the progression parameters Ss,Se,Ah,Al for the scan. Scan 129definitions are separated by semicolons (';'). A semicolon after the last 130scan definition is optional. 131 132Each scan definition contains one to four component indexes, optionally 133followed by a colon (':') and the four progressive-JPEG parameters. The 134component indexes denote which color component(s) are to be transmitted in 135the scan. Components are numbered in the order in which they appear in the 136JPEG SOF marker, with the first component being numbered 0. (Note that these 137indexes are not the "component ID" codes assigned to the components, just 138positional indexes.) 139 140The progression parameters for each scan are: 141 Ss Zigzag index of first coefficient included in scan 142 Se Zigzag index of last coefficient included in scan 143 Ah Zero for first scan of a coefficient, else Al of prior scan 144 Al Successive approximation low bit position for scan 145If the progression parameters are omitted, the values 0,63,0,0 are used, 146producing a sequential JPEG file. cjpeg automatically determines whether 147the script represents a progressive or sequential file, by observing whether 148Ss and Se values other than 0 and 63 appear. (The -progressive switch is 149not needed to specify this; in fact, it is ignored when -scans appears.) 150The scan script must meet the JPEG restrictions on progression sequences. 151(cjpeg checks that the spec's requirements are obeyed.) 152 153Scan script files are free format, in that arbitrary whitespace can appear 154between numbers and around punctuation. Also, comments can be included: a 155comment starts with '#' and extends to the end of the line. For additional 156legibility, commas or dashes can be placed between values. (Actually, any 157single punctuation character other than ':' or ';' can be inserted.) For 158example, the following two scan definitions are equivalent: 159 0 1 2: 0 63 0 0; 160 0,1,2 : 0-63, 0,0 ; 161 162Here is an example of a scan script that generates a partially interleaved 163sequential JPEG file: 164 165 0; # Y only in first scan 166 1 2; # Cb and Cr in second scan 167 168Here is an example of a progressive scan script using only spectral selection 169(no successive approximation): 170 171 # Interleaved DC scan for Y,Cb,Cr: 172 0,1,2: 0-0, 0, 0 ; 173 # AC scans: 174 0: 1-2, 0, 0 ; # First two Y AC coefficients 175 0: 3-5, 0, 0 ; # Three more 176 1: 1-63, 0, 0 ; # All AC coefficients for Cb 177 2: 1-63, 0, 0 ; # All AC coefficients for Cr 178 0: 6-9, 0, 0 ; # More Y coefficients 179 0: 10-63, 0, 0 ; # Remaining Y coefficients 180 181Here is an example of a successive-approximation script. This is equivalent 182to the default script used by "cjpeg -progressive" for YCbCr images: 183 184 # Initial DC scan for Y,Cb,Cr (lowest bit not sent) 185 0,1,2: 0-0, 0, 1 ; 186 # First AC scan: send first 5 Y AC coefficients, minus 2 lowest bits: 187 0: 1-5, 0, 2 ; 188 # Send all Cr,Cb AC coefficients, minus lowest bit: 189 # (chroma data is usually too small to be worth subdividing further; 190 # but note we send Cr first since eye is least sensitive to Cb) 191 2: 1-63, 0, 1 ; 192 1: 1-63, 0, 1 ; 193 # Send remaining Y AC coefficients, minus 2 lowest bits: 194 0: 6-63, 0, 2 ; 195 # Send next-to-lowest bit of all Y AC coefficients: 196 0: 1-63, 2, 1 ; 197 # At this point we've sent all but the lowest bit of all coefficients. 198 # Send lowest bit of DC coefficients 199 0,1,2: 0-0, 1, 0 ; 200 # Send lowest bit of AC coefficients 201 2: 1-63, 1, 0 ; 202 1: 1-63, 1, 0 ; 203 # Y AC lowest bit scan is last; it's usually the largest scan 204 0: 1-63, 1, 0 ; 205 206It may be worth pointing out that this script is tuned for quality settings 207of around 50 to 75. For lower quality settings, you'd probably want to use 208a script with fewer stages of successive approximation (otherwise the 209initial scans will be really bad). For higher quality settings, you might 210want to use more stages of successive approximation (so that the initial 211scans are not too large). 212