JPG is an image file format that is related to JPEG which stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. The file is a compressed image format which is primarily used for displaying graphics on a website and is used digitally due to the reduced file size. Digital cameras and web pages typically use JPG files; however, the lossy compression, which is used to create this file type, can be a drawback in terms of the image quality. Therefore, JPG format is used when file size is more important than image quality.
It is possible to create high quality JPG images provided you choose a higher quality format in the photo editor along with a larger size. It is also important to avoid editing and saving JPG files repeatedly as this also affects the quality and the size of the file.
In terms of content, JPG files are a well-established format which simply contains images in the file. If you have ever viewed images on a website or some other types of digital format, then the chances are you were viewing a JPG file.
How to Open JPG Files
The number of programs available for opening JPG files is endless, in addition to programs that can convert other content to a JPG format. Basically you can open any JPG file using a photo viewer or your web browser, and there are a number of other applications, both free and paid, that you can use to open and edit JPG files.
If you want to open and edit JPG files on a Windows-based PC, you can use Microsoft Paint, which is typically included with the operating system, or Adobe Photoshop CS6, Photoshop Elements 10, and Illustrator CS6, which are all paid Adobe programs. Other applications include GIMP, which is free open source program, Roxio Creator 2012, CorelDRAW Graphic Suite X6, and Corel PaintShop Pro X4.
For Mac OS X you can use Roxio Toast 11, Adobe Photoshop CS6, Photoshop Elements 10, and Illustrator CS6, which are quite expensive programs. Other programs such as ACDSee Pro for Mac and Apple Preview also work well for opening JPG files.
If you use Linux, GIMP works well for opening and editing JPG files. GIMP is available as a free download and provides you with a versatile set of graphics editing tools for working with images in a variety of formats including the JPG file format.
If you want to convert JPG files to another format, such as PNG, GIF, TIFF or BMP, the Total Imager Converter is a reliable file conversion software program for working with JPG format.
