JPEG Standard 25 years: Which were the first JPEG images?
1. JPEG-1
(ITU-T T.81¦ISO/IEC IS 10918-1)
25 years
- Which were the first JPEG
images?
JPEG = JOINT PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERT GROUP
DR. ISTVÁN SEBESTYÉN
(EX-CCITT SGVIII SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON
NIC “NEW IMAGE COMMUNICATION”
AND FOLLOW-ITU QUESTIONS
BETWEEN 1986 – 2000)
NOW, IN 2018
SECRETARY GENERAL OF ECMA INTERNATIONAL IN GENEVA, CH
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2. Why is it difficult to point to the
first JPEG picture?
The development of the underlying JPEG
technology ADCT (Adaptive Discrete Cosine
Transform based technique) took several years in
two different projects:
EU ESPRIT-563 Research Project from 1985 to 1988
ISO-CCITT (ITU) JPEG Standardization Project from
1986 to 1992 (ITU) and to 1993 (ISO/IEC) resp. The
ESPRIT-563 Project provided input to
standardization.
During all these years in these projects the same
test- and selection images were used
Now, what is the right point to say in this process?:
“This is the first JPEG picture!”
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3. Type of images used for the
development of JPEG
Since one of the major targeted application for
JPEG was “ISDN Photovideotex” CCIR-601 type of
TV still picture images (format and characteristics)
were used:
720x576 pixels (at that time very high, today not..)
Each pixel with one byte luminance (b/w) and two
bytes of chrominance (color), where the color
resolution was half that of the luminance (4:2:2)
Each picture contained 818 kByte information
All source images were originally of analogue
source (diapositive slides)
Digitalization was performed by IBA (UK) in COST
211 magnetic tape format and distributed so.
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4. Type of images used for the
development of JPEG (cont.)
Purpose of the images:
Test images (it was important to reuse the same
images in order to see the progress during standard
development).
Selection images (distributed 4 weeks before
selection test meetings). The selection images had
to be new (“secrete”) images in order that no time
should be given to developers to tune their
algorithm to those images.
After selection meeting the Selection Images
became additional Test images.
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5. Initial ESPRIT-563 test images and
1987 Copenhagen 1st
selection:
Barbara with toys
Boats and lighthouse
Zelda
Toys against a blackboard
For the initial selection meeting a digitized picture
had to be produced for 3 stages (0.25, 0.75, 4.0
bits/pixel) of progressive build-up on a magnetic
tape. There were 12 candidate proposals.
Candidates had also to provide the executable
code that generated the pictures in either VAX of
IBM-PC format to enable their results to be
verified.
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10. Were these the first JPEG
pictures?
Not yet….
Three techniques (ADCT, ABAC, BSPC) were
selected for further refinement and for the 2nd
selection in January 1988.
ADCT (Adaptive Discrete Cosine Transform) was
selected as one of the techniques
Nevertheless ADCT was NOT yet the finally
approved version, there was lot of improvement
between the versions
After the June 1987 1st
selection meeting images
became “test images”
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11. 1988 (Jan.) Copenhagen 2nd
selection:
December 1987 Winchester (IBA) Meeting choose:
Barbara 2
Gold Hill
Girl with toys
Hotel
Balloons
For the final selection meeting a digitized picture
had to be produced for 4 stages (0.083, 0.25, 0.75,
2.25 bits/pixel) of progressive build-up on a
magnetic tape. There were 3 candidate proposals.
Candidates had also to provide the executable
code that generated the pictures in either VAX of
IBM-PC format to enable their results to be verified.
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17. Were these the first JPEG
pictures?
May be….
ADCT (Adaptive Discrete Cosine Transform) was
selected and declared as the winning technique
Nevertheless also this ADCT version was NOT yet
the finally approved version of 1992, there was
more refinement until the specification was
“frozen” in Fall of 1989
After the January 1988 2st
selection meeting also
these images became “test images”
So one could say that all the test images of the 1st
and 2nd
selection are the set of the first JPEG
pictures
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