Digital Camera Techniques

8 File formats

Almost all digital cameras save their pictures using JPEG encoding. This system is named after the Joint Photographic Experts Group, and defines a particular way of recording image data. Given that any digital picture can be represented by a string of numbers that define the red, green and blue components at each point in the image, it would be perfectly possible to save the information in exactly that form. But to do that would take a lot of storage space, and the JPEG method allows pictures to be saved more economically. A picture taken using a 4 million pixel camera generates 4 million items of raw data that are then processed to provide 4 million values for each of the red, green and blue channels. This equates to 12 million ...