[image] JPG vs. JPEG image formats

I often use JPEG images, and I have noticed that there are two very similar file extensions: .jpg, which my mobile's camera and the Preview application use, and .jpeg, with which Image Capture saves the images from scanning with my Canon MX455 printer. LaTeX doesn't seem to distinguish, as I gave it a .jpeg with the extension changed to .jpg and the result seems to be the same as if it had been a .jpg right from the start. I have wondered what the difference between the two is. I have come across this question, and will certainly read through it, though at the moment I'm slightly out of time. However, from what I saw giving it a quick look, it seems not to distinguish the two extensions. In fact, it seems the file type's name is JPEG and the file extension is .jpg:

JPEG (or JPG, for the file extension; Joint Photographic Experts Group)

(excerpted from the first answer there). So is there any big difference between the two extensions? And if so, what is it?

This question is related to image jpeg file-extension image-formats

The answer is


No difference at all.

I personally prefer having 3 letters extensions, but you might prefer having the full name.
It's pure aestetics (personal taste), nothing else.
The format doesn't change.

You can rename the jpeg files into jpg (or vice versa) an nothing changes: they will open in your picture viewer.

By opening both a JPG and a JPEG file with an hex editor, you will notice that they share the very same heading information.


There is no difference between them, it just a file extension for image/jpeg mime type. In fact file extension for image/jpeg is .jpg, .jpeg, .jpe .jif, .jfif, .jfi


They are identical. JPG is simply a holdover from the days of DOS when file extensions were required to be 3 characters long. You can find out more information about the JPEG standard here. A question very similar to this one was asked over at SuperUser, where the accepted answer should give you some more detailed information.


There's no difference between the file extensions, and they are used interchangeably. I guess the 3-letter version stems from the DOS era...

However, there are different "flavors" of JPEG files. Most notably the JFIF standard and the EXIF standard. Most often these just use .jpg or .jpeg as file extensions, JFIF sometimes uses .jif or .jfif.


The term "JPEG" is an acronym for the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the standard. .jpeg and .jpg files are identical. JPEG images are identified with 6 different standard file name extensions:

  • .jpg
  • .jpeg
  • .jpe
  • .jif
  • .jfif
  • .jfi

The jpg was used in Microsoft Operating Systems when they only supported 3 chars-extensions.

The JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF - last three extensions in my list) is an image file format standard for exchanging JPEG encoded files compliant with the JPEG Interchange Format (JIF) standard, solving some of JIF's limitations in regard. Image data in JFIF files is compressed using the techniques in the JPEG standard, hence JFIF is sometimes referred to as "JPEG/JFIF".


Examples related to image

Reading images in python Numpy Resize/Rescale Image Convert np.array of type float64 to type uint8 scaling values Extract a page from a pdf as a jpeg How do I stretch an image to fit the whole background (100% height x 100% width) in Flutter? Angular 4 img src is not found How to make a movie out of images in python Load local images in React.js How to install "ifconfig" command in my ubuntu docker image? How do I display local image in markdown?

Examples related to jpeg

Image steganography that could survive jpeg compression How do I insert a JPEG image into a python Tkinter window? JPG vs. JPEG image formats C# Base64 String to JPEG Image Changing all files' extensions in a folder with one command on Windows Convert RGBA PNG to RGB with PIL Converting a byte array to PNG/JPG Python Image Library fails with message "decoder JPEG not available" - PIL matplotlib savefig in jpeg format Accessing JPEG EXIF rotation data in JavaScript on the client side

Examples related to file-extension

find files by extension, *.html under a folder in nodejs JPG vs. JPEG image formats What is phtml, and when should I use a .phtml extension rather than .php? How to get the file extension in PHP? Given a filesystem path, is there a shorter way to extract the filename without its extension? What file uses .md extension and how should I edit them? How can I check the extension of a file? Changing file extension in Python How can I find all of the distinct file extensions in a folder hierarchy? Should you use .htm or .html file extension? What is the difference, and which file is correct?

Examples related to image-formats

JPG vs. JPEG image formats