What is a JPG (JPEG) File ?

This article explains what JPG and JPEG files are and how they differ from other image formats, how to open them, and what programs can convert them to another image format such as SVG, GIF, or PNG.

What is a JPG (JPEG) File?

A JPG or JPEG (both pronounced "jay-peg") file is an image file. While some JPG image files use the .JPG file extension and others use the .JPEG file extension, they are both the same file type.

Note: Some JPEG image files use the .JPE file extension, but this is not very common. JFIF files are JPEG File Interchange Format files that also use JPEG compression, but are not as popular as JPG files.

How to Open a JPG or JPEG File

JPG files are compatible with all image viewers and editors. It is the most used image format.

You can open JPG files with your web browser like Chrome or Firefox (drag local JPG files to the browser window) and Microsoft built-in programs like Photo Viewer and Paint application. On a Mac, Apple Preview and Apple Photos can open the JPG file.

JPG files are widely used as the compression algorithm reduces the file size significantly, making it ideal for sharing, storing, and viewing on websites. However, this JPG compression also reduces image quality, which can be noticeable with heavy compression.

IrfanView, Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, and basically any other program that displays images, including online services like Google Drive, also support JPG files.

Mobile devices also support opening JPG files, which means you can view them in your email and text messages without the need for a dedicated JPG viewer app.

Some websites and programs may not recognize an image as a JPEG image file if it does not have the correct file extension. For example, some simple image viewers and editors only open .JPG files and don't know that the .JPEG file you have is the same. In these cases, you can simply rename the file to get the file extension that the program understands.

How to Convert a JPG or JPEG File

There are two ways to convert JPG files. You can use your image viewer or editor to save it to a new format (assuming the feature is supported), or put the JPG file into an image conversion program.

For example, FileZigZag is an online JPG converter that can save the file to other formats, including PNG, TIF/TIFF, GIF, BMP, DPX, TGA, PCX, and YUV.

Another really easy option is an app called Resizing.app, and there's a Chrome extension if you want to do a lot of conversions. Output formats include PNG, TIFF, WEBP, and BMP.

You can even convert JPG files to MS Word format like DOCX or DOC with Zamzar, which is like FileZigZag in that it converts JPG files online. It also saves JPG to ICO, PS, PDF, WEBP, among others.

Tip: If you just want to insert a JPG file into a Word document, you don't need to convert the file to an MS Word file format. In fact, such a conversion does not result in a very well-formatted document. Instead, use Word's built-in "Paste" option to paste the JPG directly into the document, even if it already has some text in it.

Open the JPG file in Microsoft Paint and use the File > Save As menu to convert it to BMP, DIB, PNG, TIFF, etc. The other JPG viewers and editors mentioned above support similar menu options and output file formats.

Using the Convertio website is one way to convert JPG to EPS if you want the image file to be in that format. If that doesn't work, you can try AConvert.com.

Still Can't Open the File?

Some file formats use file extensions that look like .JPG files, but are actually unrelated. Some examples are JPR (JBuilder Project or Fugawi Projection), JPS (Image Stereo JPEG or Akeeba Backup Archive) and JPGW (JPEG World).

Is JPG the Same as JPEG?

So is there a difference between JPEG and JPG? The file formats are identical, but one has an extra letter. Really, that's the only difference.

Both JPG and JPEG represent an image format endorsed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group and have exactly the same meaning. The reason for the different file extensions is that older versions of Windows don't accept the longer extension.

As with HTM and HTML files, when the JPEG format was introduced, the official file extension was JPEG (four letters). However, Windows at the time had a policy that all file extensions could not exceed three letters, so .JPG was used for the exact same format. However, Mac computers had no such limitation.

What happened was that both file extensions were used on both systems, and then Windows changed its requirements to accept longer file extensions, but JPG was still used. Therefore, both JPG and JPEG files circulated and continue to be created.

Although both file extensions are present, the formats are exactly the same and can be renamed to each other without loss of functionality.