Find Out the Difference Between JPG vs JPEG

People who often work with images, photos, etc. often come across various formats. The most common are JPG and JPEG. They are everywhere on the Internet. Sometimes it’s very confusing since they look very similar and differ with one letter only. However, does it differ only like that? Let’s find out what JPG and JPEG formats are and how they differ. We’ll also find a quick way to differentiate the files and understand which one you’d better pick.

The general overview of JPEG

The term JPEG is an acronym. It stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. This file will be a compressed one. This bitmap compression format allows adjusting the ratio. However, you should keep in mind that the compression will have a huge impact on the file’s size and quality.

This term was invented to name the images produced by digital photography. It happened back in 1992.

It’s a wonderful format for color and photos but the loss of quality can be an important factor in some projects. Moreover, if you edit it over and over again, each time the quality will degrade. That’s why professionals work only with RAW JPEG files to minimize the loss. JPEG images can come with 6 file extensions which include:

1. .jpg

2. .jpeg

3. .jpe

4. .jig

5. .jfif

6. .jfi

A brief explanation of JPG format

Then you take a look at JPG format. The truth is there is no significant difference in these formats. JPG simply has one less character so that it was possible to use the extension earlier. In the early Windows, the system needed 3 letter extension names. That’s why the E was dropped. The users of DOS had the same issue. However, UNIX kept the whole JPEG name making the .jpeg files. Since then, there was a small confusion and the belief the formats differ in some way. Well, it’s true to some extent. Nevertheless, the difference in one letter didn’t change anything for the way the files were used, edited, transmitted, etc.

Later all the systems accepted the 4-letter name. That’s why when you use Adobe Photoshop now, all the images are saved as JPEG automatically. Nevertheless, you may change it to JPG and the software will operate the same way.

The characteristics which both formats share

Both JPG and JPEG have numerous similarities. They include:

• Both are raster images.

• They both stand for Joint Photographic Experts Group.

• Professional photographers use both formats.

• They apply lossy compression, i.e. some of the quality is lost.

• The format decreases the file’s size.

Then what’s the difference? You can ask that because all the characteristics coincide. It turns out that only the name is different. As it was previously mentioned, the early operating systems needed a shorter extension name. Now both formats exist peacefully and everyone can pick any of them.

The verdict

In conclusion, both JPG and JPEG are in all aspects the same. The JPG format was created more of the necessity and existing limitations because the early Windows systems needed a 3-character extension, so the developers dropped the letter E from the name. Yet, both acronyms have the same full name and share the same characteristics.

These terms have the same meaning. They are interchangeable. Nowadays, however, you are more likely to come across JPG images just because the systems don’t want any confusions. You might have noticed that regardless of that, the programs work with both formats without any glitches, errors or other types of problems.