JPG vs. JPEG: Confusing Tech Terms

Last updated on August 28, 2024 by Liam Daniel

If you ever worked with digital images, even if that only included downloading a few pictures from the Internet, you must have seen that there exist a big variety of formats. Two of them look very similar, and these are JPG and JPEG. Is there a difference between them? And if there isn’t, why does one have one letter more than the other? Thankfully, these questions have simple and logical answers.

JPG vs. JPEG: Understanding the Basics

Key Takeaways

  • JPG and JPEG are essentially the same file format for storing digital images, with JPEG standing for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the standard.
  • The only difference is in the name; JPG was used in older versions of Windows which required a three-letter file extension, while JPEG is used on modern operating systems that accept file extensions with more than three letters.
JPG vs. JPEG
JPG vs. JPEG – Created by 7ESL

JPG vs. JPEG: the Definition

What Does ‘JPEG’ Mean?

JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, and this is an extension that first appeared in 1992. It is the file extension that is used by digital cameras and other devices that deal with photographs more often than any other.

This format lets us have absolutely stunning photographs full of color, and yet there is one significant drawback. It is that, since this file extension compresses the file, the photograph loses in quality and, the more you edit and resave it, the bigger the problem becomes. However, it sometimes cannot be noticed by an inexperienced eye. Professional photographers deal with this issue by working with RAW JPEG files and only saving the final image that they get, avoiding multiple savings in the process.

What Does ‘JPG’ Mean?

As for JPG, it’s absolutely the same file extension. JPG, the shorter version of the two terms, is a file extension used for compressing digital images.

We use the .jpg format because it uses a form of lossy compression, meaning it reduces the file size by selectively discarding data. This is particularly useful when we want to save space on our hard drives or share images quickly online. The compromise, however, is that some image quality is lost in the compression process.

Why does it have a slightly different name then?

The thing is, early versions of Windows only allowed the file names to have extensions that consisted of three letters. To solve this problem, JPEG was shortened and became JPG. Interestingly enough, since UNIX did not have this limitation, UNIX users didn’t switch to JPG and kept using the JPEG format.

At some point, Windows got rid of this limitation. However, so many people got used to the shorter name, that JPG still remains the most popular file extension.

Now, if you open and save a JPEG image in Adobe Photoshop or GIMP, it will be saved with the letters JPG at the end. And, if you for some reason prefer the longer JPEG, you can always change the extension without doing any harm to the file itself.

So, there’s completely no difference between JPEG and JPG. JPG only existed because of a restriction that existed in previous versions of Windows, and today both of them can be used without any problems.

JPG vs. JPEG Examples

Example of JPG

  • After the photoshoot, the images were saved in JPG format for easy sharing.
  • Please convert the PNG files to JPG before uploading them to the website.
  • The camera settings can be adjusted to save pictures directly as JPG files.
  • To reduce the file size, you can compress the image and save it as a JPG.
  • Most of the graphics on the web are displayed as JPG because it’s a widely supported format.

Example of JPEG

  • The digital camera stores each photograph as a JPEG file by default.
  • If you need to print the image, make sure to save it in the highest quality JPEG format.
  • You can adjust the compression level when saving an image as a JPEG to balance quality and file size.
  • The website’s gallery is full of high-resolution JPEG images for visitors to view.
  • When sending the document, please attach the images as JPEG files to ensure compatibility.
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