JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) Reader/Writer

Licensing options for this format begin with FME Professional Edition.

The JPEG Reader/Writer provides FME with access to data in the JPEG format.

Overview

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a standardized image compression mechanism. JPEG is designed for compressing either full-color three-band (RGB) or gray-scale one-band images. JPEG data can be either 8 or 12-bit. JPEG compression can make a file very small, but it is “lossy,” meaning that image quality is lost when the image is compressed. The current version of this format supports reading, writing, but not update in place. There is currently no support for georeferencing information or metadata for JPEG files.

The current version of this format supports reading, writing, but not update in place. There is currently no support for georeferencing information or metadata for JPEG files.

Format Parameters

The JPEG writer supports the following additional options through the Feature Type Properties dialog (Format Parameters):

World file

This option enables the generation of an associated Esri world file (.wld)

Compression Level

This option sets the desired compression level of the output image. This is expressed as a percentage of the original file size. For example, setting a compression level of 75 means that the output image will be approximately 75% smaller (one-quarter of the size) than an uncompressed image.

Note that this value only represents the targeted compression level, and this may not actually be achieved. JPEG supports both lossy and lossless compression. With lossy compression, the compressed image is an approximation of the original. With lossless compression, the compressed image is identical to the original.

To achieve lossless compression, set the compression level to 0 (best quality).

Note: Repeatedly reading and saving files may decrease the quality for this format. In addition, Workbench may not know which format data comes from, and whether it used lossy compression. If you know that source data comes from files with lossy compression, you should also set the compression level to 0. Although this compression still does not guarantee the exact copy of the source file, the output will be very close to the original.