(2) Viewers, Browsers, and WWW Performance

Dermatology Online Journal, July 1995
Volume 1, Number1

jpeg-faq2

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From: tgl@netcom.com (Tom Lane)
Subject: JPEG image compression FAQ, part 2/2
Message-ID: <jpeg-faq-p2_795674882@netcom.com>
Followup-To: comp.graphics
Summary: System-specific hints and program recommendations for JPEG images
Keywords: JPEG, image compression, FAQ, JPG, JFIF
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Reply-To: jpeg-info@uunet.uu.net
Organization: Independent JPEG Group
References: <jpeg-faq-p1_795674882@netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 04:48:06 GMT
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Archive-name: jpeg-faq/part2
Posting-Frequency: every 14 days
Last-modified: 5 March 1995

This article answers Frequently Asked Questions about JPEG image compression.
This is part 2, covering system-specific hints and program recommendations
for a variety of computer systems.  Part 1 covers general questions and
answers about JPEG.  As always, suggestions for improvement of this FAQ are
welcome.

New since version of 3 February 1995:
  * New entry for FastView (Amiga JPEG/GIF/ILBM viewer).
  * New versions of ACDSee (1.21), 2SHOW (1.06), PMView (0.90),
    GraphicConverter (2.07).
  * Updated FTP locations for OS/2 programs.


This article includes the following sections:

General info:

[1] What is covered in this FAQ?
[2] How do I retrieve these programs?

Programs and hints for specific systems:

[3] X Windows
[4] Unix (without X)
[5] MS-DOS
[6] Microsoft Windows
[7] OS/2
[8] Macintosh
[9] Amiga
[10] Atari ST
[11] Acorn Archimedes
[12] NeXT
[13] Other systems

Source code for JPEG:

[14] Freely available source code for JPEG

Miscellaneous:

[15] Where are FAQ lists archived?


This article and its companion are posted every 2 weeks.  If you can't find
part 1, you can get it from the news.answers archive at rtfm.mit.edu
(see "[15] Where are FAQ lists archived?"). This article changes frequently;
get a new copy if the one you are reading is more than a couple months old.

------------------------------

Subject: [1] What is covered in this FAQ?

This list describes programs that are of particular interest to JPEG users.
For the most part, I concentrate on viewers, since a viewer program is the
first thing you'll need.  Some general image-editing programs are listed
too, especially if they are useful as plain viewers (meaning that they can
load and display an image as quickly and easily as a dedicated viewer).
Programs that convert JPEG to and from other image file formats are also
covered.

I list only freeware and shareware programs that are available on the
Internet by FTP.  Commercial products are intentionally excluded, to keep
the list to a reasonable size and to avoid any appearance of advertising.
Also, I try to list only programs that are popular among Usenet users, as
indicated by comments and recommendations in news articles.  I have no
access to many of the types of systems covered here, so I have to rely on
what other people say about a program to decide whether to list it.  If you
have an opinion pro or con on any program, I'd appreciate hearing it.

This FAQ also includes a few hints that are specific to a machine or
program, and thus don't belong in the general discussion of part 1.

------------------------------

Subject: [2] How do I retrieve these programs?

All the files mentioned in this FAQ are available by standard Internet FTP.
If you don't know how to use FTP, please read the article "Anonymous FTP
FAQ List", which you can get by sending e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
with the single line "send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq" in the body.
(See also "[15] Where are FAQ lists archived?")  This section gives some
quick reminders which are not meant as a substitute for reading the FTP FAQ.

If you do not have direct access to FTP, you can use an "ftpmail" server to
obtain files by e-mail.  See the FTP FAQ for details.

If you use a WWW browser such as Mosaic or Lynx, it will do FTP for you.
To retrieve a file described here as "site.name:/path/to/file", tell the
browser to open the URL "ftp://site.name/path/to/file".  (If you are reading
this FAQ in the WWW FAQ archive, the file names should appear as links that
you can just click on.)  Don't forget to set save-to-disk mode first.

Many of the pointers given here refer to popular central archive sites,
such as oak.oakland.edu for DOS software or sumex-aim.stanford.edu for Mac.
These sites are often overloaded, and are likely to refuse your connection
request when they are busy.  You can try again at a less popular time of
day, or you can look for a "mirror site".  Most central archive sites have
groups of mirror sites that keep copies of their files.  Find out the name
of the mirror site closest to you, and visit that site instead; it's good
net citizenship and you'll get faster response.  Check the FAQs for the
newsgroups specific to your system type to find lists of mirror sites.
(The archive site may list some mirror sites in its connection-refused error
message.  Unfortunately, some FTP programs won't show you the whole message.
WWW browsers are often bad about this.)

If you are able to reach the archive site, but the file you want doesn't
exist, most likely it's been replaced by a newer version.  Get a directory
listing of the directory that's supposed to contain the file, and look for
a file with a similar name but a higher version number.  (If you find an
out-of-date reference in a *current* version of the JPEG FAQ, I'd
appreciate hearing about it by e-mail.)

Practically all of the files listed here are compressed archive files.
This means you need to retrieve them in binary mode.  (WWW browsers do this
automatically, but many older FTP programs must be told to use binary mode.)
Once you've got the archive file, you'll need a decompressor/dearchiver
to extract the program and documentation files inside it.  Check the FAQs
for your system type to find out where to get dearchiver programs.

------------------------------

Subject: [3] X Windows

XV is an excellent viewer for JPEG, GIF, and many other image formats.
It can also do format conversion and some simple image manipulations.
Get it from ftp.cis.upenn.edu:/pub/xv/xv-3.10.tar.gz.  Shareware, $25.
Version 3.10 has some nifty new features, and it loads JPEGs noticeably
faster than any prior version.  If you're still using version 2.anything,
it's definitely time to upgrade.  HINT: if you have an 8-bit display then
you need to "lock 8-bit mode" to get decent display of JPEG images.  (But
do NOT do this if you intend to resave the image, because it'll be written
from the 8-bit version, thus costing you image quality.)  You can set this
mode to be default by adding "xv.force8: true" to your .Xdefaults file.

Another excellent choice is John Cristy's free ImageMagick package,
ftp.x.org:/contrib/applications/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-3.5.tar.gz.  This
package handles many image processing and conversion tasks.  The ImageMagick
viewer handles 24-bit displays correctly; for colormapped displays, it does
better (though slower) color quantization than XV or the basic IJG JPEG
software.

Both of the above are large, complex packages.  If you just want a simple
image viewer, try xloadimage or xli.  xloadimage views and converts many
image file types including JPEG.  Version 4.1 has better JPEG support than
prior versions and is easier to install.  xloadimage is free and available
from ftp.x.org:/R5contrib/xloadimage.4.1.tar.gz.  xli is a variant version
of xloadimage; xli is slightly better as an interactive viewer, but it can't
be used as a converter, and it supports fewer file formats.  xli is also
free and available from ftp.x.org:/contrib/applications/xli.1.16.tar.gz.

------------------------------

Subject: [4] Unix (without X)

If you want a command-line JPEG conversion program, see the IJG source code
described in section 14.  (This code is included as a subdirectory in most
of the X programs described above, although they may not have the latest
version.)

Non-X viewers are hard to come by, since they are very hardware dependent.
Linux users with VGA/SVGA displays may like zgv.  Version 2.5 is available
from sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/apps/graphics/viewers/zgv2.5-bin.tar.gz.
(Several other alternatives are available in the same directory.)
If you use a less popular platform, you're probably out of luck.

------------------------------

Subject: [5] MS-DOS

This covers plain DOS; for Windows or OS/2 programs, see the next sections.

NOTE ABOUT SIMTEL FILES: The largest Internet collection of PC-related
programs is the Simtel archives (named for the original archive site, now
defunct).  The principal archive site for these files is oak.oakland.edu,
which keeps Simtel files under /SimTel; so files in the msdos/graphics
section of the archives are at oak.oakland.edu:/SimTel/msdos/graphics/.
There are many mirror sites which keep copies of the Simtel files; for
quickest response you should use the mirror site closest to you.  Consult
the periodic postings in comp.archives.msdos.announce to find your nearest
mirror site.  If you have no FTP capability, the same postings will tell you
how to retrieve Simtel files by e-mail.

QPEG is the fastest noncommercial JPEG viewer I know of.  In exchange for
speed, QPEG gives up some image quality, particularly on 256-or-less-color
displays.  Its best feature is a really-fast small preview window, which is
great for searching through lots of image files. Also views GIF,TGA,BMP,PCX.
Requires 386-or-better CPU and VGA-or-better display card.  Current version
is 1.5e, available from ftp.tu-clausthal.de:/pub/msdos/graphics/qpeg15e.zip.
Also available from Simtel sites, file msdos/graphics/qpeg15e.zip.
Shareware, $20.

DVPEG is a free viewer for JPEG, GIF, Targa, and PPM files.  Current version
is 3.0l, available from sunee.uwaterloo.ca:/pub/jpeg/viewers/dvpeg30l.zip.
(That's lower case l, not digit 1.)  This is a good basic viewer that works
on either 286 or 386/486 machines.  The user interface is clunky but
functional.  DVPEG is substantially faster than it used to be; on hi-color
displays it is nearly as fast as QPEG.  On 8-bit displays, its two-pass
quantization mode is slow but gives much better image quality than QPEG can
provide.

Lesser-used DOS viewers include:
* DISPLAY, alias DISP.  The Swiss army knife of DOS viewers.  Does almost
  everything, but a bit intimidating for newcomers.  User interface is much
  improved over early versions, but still awkward in places.  Requires 386
  or better.  Freeware.  Current version is 1.87, available from
  nctuccca.edu.tw:/PC/graphics/disp/disp187a.zip and disp187b.zip.
* GDS.  A well-done viewer and image converter for many image formats.
  Installation is simple, and the on-line documentation is very good.
  JPEG loading is a bit slower than the above viewers, though.  Shareware,
  $40.  Current version is 3.1f.  A slightly restricted demo version is
  available from ftp.netcom.com:/pub/ph/photodex/gds31f.zip.
* NVIEW.  Views JPEG and half a dozen other image formats.  Easy to use,
  very easy to install.  Only moderately fast, but it has lots of options.
  Supports hi-color and true-color modes on some cards, but not mine :-(.
  Requires 386 or better.  Current version is 1.40, available from Simtel
  sites, file msdos/graphics/nview140.zip.  Shareware, $29.
* ColorView for DOS.  This viewer's main advantage is easy installation.
  Menu interface is spiffy-looking but I find it a bit clunky to use.
  Does not require 386, should work with any display that has a VESA
  driver.  Current version is 2.1, available from Simtel sites, file
  msdos/graphics/dcview21.zip.  Requires a VESA graphics driver; if you
  don't have one, look in msdos/graphics/vesadrv2.zip or
  msdos/graphics/vesa-tsr.zip.  Shareware, $30.

DISRECOMMENDATION: The well-known GIF viewer CompuShow (CSHOW, recently
renamed 2SHOW) supports JPEG, but CSHOW's JPEG implementation is crummy:
it's much slower than any of the above viewers, and its image quality is
poor except on hi-color displays.  Too bad ... it'd have been nice to see
a good JPEG capability in CSHOW, especially since CSHOW supports pre-VGA
displays while most of the above viewers don't.  Available from Simtel
sites, file msdos/gif/2show106.zip.  Shareware, $25.

Due to the remarkable variety of PC graphics hardware, any one of these
viewers might not work on your particular machine.  If you can't get *any*
of them to work, you'll need to use one of the following conversion programs
to convert JPEG to GIF, then view with your favorite GIF viewer.  (If you
have hi-color hardware, don't use GIF as the intermediate format; try to
find a hi-color BMP- or TARGA-capable viewer instead.)

The free IJG JPEG converters are available from Simtel sites, file
msdos/graphics/jpg5a.zip (or jpg5a386.zip if you have a 386 or better CPU
and extended memory).  These programs will convert JPEG to and from GIF,
BMP, Targa, and PPM formats; they are DOS compilations of the free source
code described in section 14.

Handmade Software offers free JPEG<=>GIF conversion tools, GIF2JPG/JPG2GIF.
These are quite slow and are limited to conversion to and from GIF format;
thus they can't produce 24-bit color output from a JPEG.  The sole advantage
of these tools is that they will read and write HSI's proprietary JPEG
format as well as the Usenet-standard JFIF format.  Since HSI-format files
are rather widespread on BBSes, this is a useful capability.  Version 2.0
of these tools is free (prior versions were shareware).  Get it from Simtel
sites, file msdos/graphics/gif2jpg2.zip.
NOTE: do not use HSI format for files to be posted on Usenet, since it is
not readable by any non-HSI software.

Handmade Software also has a shareware image conversion and manipulation
package, Image Alchemy.  This will translate JPEG files (both JFIF and HSI
formats) to and from many other image formats.  It can also display images.
A demo version of Image Alchemy version 1.77 is available from Simtel sites,
file msdos/graphics/alch177.zip.

JPGINDEX is a useful tool for making indexes of JPEG image collections.
Available from Simtel sites, file msdos/graphics/jpgidx13.zip.

------------------------------

Subject: [6] Microsoft Windows

LView Pro is a viewer/editor/converter for JPEG, GIF, BMP, and other
formats.  Version 1.A is available from Simtel sites (see NOTE in previous
section), file win3/graphics/lviewp1a.zip.  Requires 386 or better CPU.
LView Pro offers a wide array of image editing functions and can load JPEGs
in either fast/low-quality or slow/high-quality modes.  Shareware payment
($30) is required only for business usage or to obtain versions optimized
for Win32s/NT, 486 or Pentium CPUs.

ACDSee is a very fast, very simple JPEG and GIF viewer.  Good choice if you
don't want a lot of options to worry about.  Current version is 1.21,
available from ftp.cica.indiana.edu:/pub/pc/win3/desktop/acdc121.zip.
Shareware, $15.

WinECJ is a fast, no-frills viewer with image quality noticeably worse than
most other JPEG viewers.  (You can purchase a version with better image
quality for AUD$30.)  Version 1.2 is free and available from Simtel sites,
file win3/graphics/winecj12.zip.  Requires Windows 3.1 and
256-or-more-colors mode.

WinJPEG (shareware, $25) displays JPEG,GIF,Targa,TIFF,PCX, and BMP files;
it can write all of these formats too, so it can be used as a converter.
It has some other nifty features including screen capture, color-balance
adjustment, and slideshow.  The current version is 2.65, available from
Simtel sites, file win3/graphics/winjp265.zip.  (This is a 286-compatible
version; if you register, you'll get the 386-and-up version, which is
roughly twice as fast.)

Some people prefer Paint Shop Pro.  It's not very impressive as just a JPEG
viewer (especially since image quality is not very good on 8-bit displays),
but it has lots of image manipulation features.  Current version is 2.00,
available from ftp.cica.indiana.edu:/pub/pc/win3/desktop/pspro200.zip.
Shareware, $69.

QPEG and DVPEG (see section 5) work under Windows, but only in full-screen
mode, not in a window.  Also note that you can run the DOS conversion
programs described earlier inside a Windows DOS window.

------------------------------

Subject: [7] OS/2

The most widely used OS/2 JPEG viewers are:

JoeView 1.22b: free JPEG/GIF/BMP/PCX/TIFF viewer.  Available from
hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/jovw122b.zip.

PMJPEG 1.63: OS/2 2.x port of WinJPEG, a popular viewer/converter for
Windows (see description in previous section).  Shareware, $20.  Available
from hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/pmjpg163.zip.

PMView 0.90: JPEG/GIF/BMP/Targa/etc viewer.  GIF viewing very fast, JPEG
viewing roughly the same speed as the above two programs.  Has image
manipulation & slideshow functions.  Shareware, $35.  Available from
hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/pmview90.zip.

All of these viewers require Palette Manager for best display quality.
Opinion seems to be about equally split as to which is the best, so try
them all to see which one you like.

Possibilities for file format conversion include:

Image Archiver 1.03: image conversion/viewing with PM graphical interface.
Strong on conversion functions, viewing is a bit weaker.  Shareware, $15.
hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/imgarc13.zip.

hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/jpegv4.zip is a 32-bit version of the free IJG
conversion programs, version 4.  (Version 5 is stuck in the archive admin's
input queue :-(.)

hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/jpeg4_16.zip is a 16-bit version of
same, suitable for OS/2 1.x.

Note: the hobbes OS/2 collection is mirrored at ftp-os2.cdrom.com.

------------------------------

Subject: [8] Macintosh

Most Mac JPEG programs rely on Apple's JPEG implementation, which is part of
the QuickTime system extension; so you need to have QuickTime installed.
To use QuickTime, you need a 68020 or better CPU and you need to be running
System 6.0.7 or later.  (If you're running System 6, you must also install
the 32-bit QuickDraw extension; in System 7, that is built in.)  The latest
freely available version of QuickTime is 1.6.1, available from
ftp.apple.com:/dts/mac/sys.soft/quicktime/quicktime-1-6-1.hqx.

Mac users should keep in mind that QuickTime's JPEG format, PICT/JPEG, is
not the same as the Usenet-standard JFIF JPEG format.  (See part 1 for
details.)  If you post images on Usenet, make sure they are in JFIF format.
Most of the programs mentioned here can handle either format.

The two major Internet sites for Mac software are sumex-aim.stanford.edu and
mac.archive.umich.edu.  Unfortunately they are both very busy, so you may
have better luck getting files from a mirror site.  See "Introductory
Macintosh Frequently Asked Questions" in the comp.sys.mac.* newsgroups for
the current locations of mirrors.

JPEGView is an excellent free program for viewing JFIF,PICT/JPEG,GIF,TIFF,
and other image files.  It can convert between the two JPEG formats and can
create preview images for files.  The current version is 3.3.1, available
from sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/grf/util/jpeg-view-331.hqx.  Requires
System 7; QuickTime is optional.  JPEGView usually produces the best color
image quality of all the currently available Mac JPEG viewers, and it needs
much less memory to view large images than most other Mac viewers.  Given
a large image, JPEGView automatically scales it down to fit on the screen,
rather than presenting scroll bars like most other viewers.  (You can zoom
in on any desired portion, though.)  Some people like this behavior, some
don't.  Overall, JPEGView's user interface is very well thought out.

GIFConverter, a shareware ($40) image viewer/editor/converter, supports
JFIF,PICT/JPEG,GIF, and many other image formats.  Current version is 2.3.7,
mac.archive.umich.edu:/mac/graphics/graphicsutil/gifconverter2.37.cpt.hqx.
Requires System 6.0.5 or later.  GIFConverter is not better than JPEGView as
a plain JPEG/GIF viewer, but it has much more extensive image manipulation
and format conversion capabilities.  Also, GIFConverter can load and save
JFIF images *without* QuickTime, so it is your best bet if your machine is
too old to run QuickTime.  (But it's faster with QuickTime.)  Hint: if
GIFConverter runs out of memory while loading a large JPEG, try converting
the file to GIF with JPEG Convert, then viewing the GIF version.

A competitor to GIFConverter is GraphicConverter, also shareware ($35).
Current version is 2.07, available at
sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/grf/util/graphic-converter-207.hqx.
Requires System 7 and QuickTime to handle JPEG.  GraphicConverter has even
more functionality than GIFConverter, but is correspondingly larger.  Worth
checking out if you want to manipulate images, not just look at them.

JPEG Convert, a Mac version of the free IJG JPEG conversion utilities, is
available at sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/app/jpeg-convert-10.hqx.
This will run on any Mac, but it only does file conversion, not viewing.
You can use it in conjunction with any GIF viewer.

Storm Technology's Picture Decompress is a free JPEG viewer/converter.
This rather old program is inferior to the above programs in many ways, but
it will run without System 7 or QuickTime, so you may be forced to use it on
older systems.  (It needs 32-bit QuickDraw, so really old machines can't use
it.)  File sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/app/picture-decompress-201.hqx.

If your Mac is too old to run 32-bit QuickDraw (a Mac Plus for instance),
GIFConverter is your only choice for single-program JPEG viewing.  If you
don't want to pay for GIFConverter, use JPEG Convert and a free GIF viewer.

More and more commercial Mac applications are supporting JPEG, although not
all can deal with the Usenet-standard JFIF format.  Adobe Photoshop, version
2.0.1 or later, can read and write JFIF-format JPEG files.  (In 2.0.1, use
the JPEG plug-in on the Acquire menu; 2.5 and later handle JPEG the same as
other file types.)  You must set the file type code of a downloaded JPEG
file to 'JPEG' to allow Photoshop to recognize it.

HINT: if you use Fetch to retrieve files by FTP, add ".jpg" to its list of
binary file types under Customize/Suffix Mapping.  Otherwise Fetch's
"automatic" retrieval mode will retrieve JPEGs in text mode, thus corrupting
the data.

------------------------------

Subject: [9] Amiga

Most programs listed in this section are available from "AmiNet" archive
sites.  The master AmiNet site is wuarchive.wustl.edu, but there are many
mirror sites and you should try to use the closest one.

Osma Ahvenlampi posted a good review of Amiga picture viewers in
comp.sys.amiga.reviews in March 1994.  You can retrieve it from
math.uh.edu:/pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/software/graphics/PictureViewerSur
vey_2.
Opinions here are mostly stolen from his article.

FastView is a fast, high-quality JPEG/GIF/ILBM viewer.  It's new but has
achieved a good reputation in a short time.  Works well on both ECS and AGA
displays.  Shareware, $15; requires OS 2.0.  Version 1.30 is available from
Aminet sites, file /pub/aminet/gfx/show/FView130.lha.

FastJPEG is a free JPEG viewer; it's fast and has good image quality, but it
doesn't view any formats except JPEG.  Somewhat faster than FastView on ECS
machines, slower on AGA.  Version 1.10 is available from Aminet sites, file
/pub/aminet/gfx/show/FastJPEG_1.10.lha.

PPShow is a good free JPEG/GIF/ILBM/ANIM/Datatype viewer.  Version 4.0 is
available from Aminet sites, file /pub/aminet/gfx/show/PPShow40.lha.  For
viewing JPEGs it is a little slower than FastJPEG, and image quality is not
as good (particularly on ECS machines); but if you want to use just one
viewer, PPShow is the one.

HamLab Plus is an excellent JPEG viewer/converter, as well as being a
general image manipulation tool.  It's cheap (shareware, $20) and can read
several formats besides JPEG.  The current version is 2.0.8.  A demo version
is available from AmiNet sites, file /pub/aminet/gfx/edit/hamlab208d.lha.
The demo version will crop images larger than 512x512, but it is otherwise
fully functional.

Rend24 (shareware, $30) is an image renderer that can display JPEG, ILBM,
and GIF images.  The program can be used to create animations, even
capturing frames on-the-fly from rendering packages like Lightwave.
The current version is 1.05, available from AmiNet sites, file
/pub/aminet/gfx/aga/rend105.lha.

Viewtek is a free JPEG/ILBM/GIF/ANIM viewer.  The current version is 2.1,
available from AmiNet sites, file /pub/aminet/gfx/show/ViewTEK21.lha.
Viewtek used to be the best free JPEG viewer for Amiga, but it now faces
stiff competition from FastJPEG and PPShow.  The choice depends on your
display hardware and personal preferences.  In particular, Viewtek has poor
display quality on ECS machines.

There is finally a good JPEG datatype for use with datatype-based viewers
(such as Multiview or ShowDT).  Available from AmiNet sites, file
/pub/aminet/util/wb/jfif_dtc.lha.

The free IJG JPEG software is available compiled for Amigas from AmiNet
sites, file /pub/aminet/gfx/conv/jpegV5Abin.lha.  These programs convert
JPEG to/from PPM, GIF, BMP, Targa formats.

If you have a DCTV box or a compatible display, try JPEGonDCTV.  Available
from AmiNet sites, file /pub/aminet/gfx/show/JPEGonDCTV100.lha.  Viewtek is
also reported to work well with DCTV.

------------------------------

Subject: [10] Atari ST

GEM-View (shareware, $26) displays JPEG, GIF, and other image formats.
FTP from atari.archive.umich.edu:/atari/Graphics/Gemview/gview248.lzh.
This is a well regarded viewer.  The English documentation tends to be a
few versions behind, though.

For monochrome ST monitors, try MGIF, which manages to achieve four-level
gray-scale effect by flickering.  Version 4.2 loads JPEG files much faster
than 4.1 did.  FTP from atari.archive.umich.edu:/atari/Graphics/mgif42b.zoo.

The free IJG JPEG software is available compiled for Atari ST/TT/etc
from micros.hensa.ac.uk:/micros/atari/tos/p/p108/jpeg5abn.zoo.
These programs convert JPEG to/from PPM, GIF, BMP, Targa formats.

------------------------------

Subject: [11] Acorn Archimedes

The Acorn archive at micros.hensa.ac.uk contains several JPEG-capable
programs.  Read the file micros.hensa.ac.uk:/micros/arch/riscos/index
for retrieval instructions.  Recommended archive entries include:

a022 Translator 7.18: image file format converter (shareware)
b008 FYEO 2.01: For Your Eyes Only, fast JPEG/GIF image viewer (shareware)
a110 JPEG 5.00: IJG v5 software (JPEG<=>PPM,GIF,Targa) w/ desktop front end

!ChangeFSI, supplied with RISC OS 3 version 3.10, can convert from and view
JPEG JFIF format.  Provision is also made to convert images to JPEG,
although this must be done from the CLI rather than by double-clicking.

------------------------------

Subject: [12] NeXT

OmniImageFilter is a filter package that converts NeXTStep TIFF to and from
about 30 image formats.  It reads JPEG but does not write it.  It works with
most NeXTStep programs that handle drag-and-drop.  OmniImage is a simple
image viewer that uses the filter package.  Both are free.  Available from
ftp.omnigroup.com:/pub/software/OmniImageFilter-3.0.pkg.tar and
ftp.omnigroup.com:/pub/software/OmniImage-3.0.1.pkg.tar.

ImageViewer is a PD utility that displays images and can do some format
conversions.  The current version reads JPEG but does not write it.
ImageViewer is available from the NeXT archives at sonata.cc.purdue.edu and
cs.orst.edu:/pub/next/3.0/bin/ImageViewer0.9i.tar.Z.  Note that there
is an older version floating around that does not support JPEG.

NeXTStep includes built-in support for TIFF/JPEG, but not for the
Usenet-standard JFIF format.  Be warned that the TIFF/JPEG standard is
about to change away from the flavor currently produced by NeXTStep,
so compatibility with other platforms is doubtful.

------------------------------

Subject: [13] Other systems

If you don't see what you want for your machine, check out the free IJG
source code described in the next section.  Assuming you have a C compiler
and at least a little knowledge of compiling C programs, you should be able
to prepare JPEG conversion programs from the source code.  You'll also need
a viewer program.  If your display is 8 bits or less, any GIF viewer will do
fine; if you have a display with more color capability, try to find a viewer
that can read Targa, BMP, or PPM 24-bit image files.

------------------------------

Subject: [14] Freely available source code for JPEG

Free, portable C code for JPEG compression is available from the Independent
JPEG Group.  Source code, documentation, and test files are included.
Version 5a is available from ftp.uu.net:/graphics/jpeg/jpegsrc.v5a.tar.gz.
If you are on a PC you may prefer ZIP archive format, which you can find at
oak.oakland.edu:/SimTel/msdos/graphics/jpgsrc5a.zip (or at any Simtel mirror
site).  On CompuServe, see the GRAPHSUPPORT forum (GO GRAPHSUP), library 12,
file jpgs5a.zip.

The IJG code includes a reusable JPEG compression/decompression library,
plus sample applications "cjpeg" and "djpeg", which perform conversion
between JPEG JFIF format and image files in PPM/PGM (PBMPLUS), GIF, BMP,
Utah RLE, and Targa formats.  Two small applications "wrjpgcom" and
"rdjpgcom" insert and extract textual comments in JFIF files.
The package is highly portable; it has been used successfully on many
machines ranging from Apple IIs to Crays.

The IJG code is free for both noncommercial and commercial use; only an
acknowledgement in your documentation is required to use it in a product.
(See the README file in the distribution for details.)


A different free JPEG implementation, written by the PVRG group at Stanford,
is available from havefun.stanford.edu:/pub/jpeg/JPEGv1.2.tar.Z.  The PVRG
code is designed for research and experimentation rather than production
use; it is slower, harder to use, and less portable than the IJG code, but
the PVRG code is easier to understand.  Also, the PVRG code supports
lossless JPEG, while the IJG code does not.

------------------------------

Subject: [15] Where are FAQ lists archived?

Many FAQs are crossposted to news.answers.  Well-run netnews sites will have
the latest versions available in that newsgroup.  However, there are a *lot*
of postings in news.answers, and they can be hard to sort through.

The latest versions of news.answers postings are archived at rtfm.mit.edu.
You can retrieve this FAQ by FTP as /pub/usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part1
and /pub/usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part2.  If you have no FTP access,
send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu containing the lines
        send usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part1
        send usenet/news.answers/jpeg-faq/part2
(If you don't get a reply, the server may be misreading your return address;
add a line such as "path myname@mysite" to specify your correct e-mail
address to reply to.)  For more info about the FAQ archive, retrieve the
file rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/news-answers/introduction.

The same FAQs are also available in the World Wide Web; see the index at
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html.  This FAQ
is http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/jpeg-faq/top.html.

-- 
                        tom lane
                        organizer, Independent JPEG Group
                        tgl@netcom.com or tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us