Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The JPEG format processes pixel information in 8 by 8 blocks,
according to the level of compression specified by a user. Although
this can result in quite small files, the quality of an image can suffer
if its compressed file becomes too small. Often its loss of quality in
volves subtle changes in color or sharpness.
graphical applications?
Much of this discussion of file formats and storage mechanisms
may seem rather abstract, so let's consider three examples.
Example: Text
Figure 2.1 shows a picture of a page of text. As this picture indicates, the page of
text could be stored in several formats: HTML (designed for text in Web pages),
PostScript, GIF, JPEG, or TIFF (approximately a bitmap format). With PostScript,
the file could assume that either the printer already has font information (no font
need be embedded) or that the printer will need font information for printing
(font will need to be embedded). JPEG files allow varying qualities, so this ver
sion would allow a medium level of clarity and precision.
Figure 2.1
A textual image.
