Compressed Image File Formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, XBM, BMP (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Compressed Image File Formats is an appealingly compact and useful guide to some of today's most popular file formats used for image data. For any programmer who needs to know how images are stored, this concise reference can serve as a really invaluable resource.

Besides full coverage of the popular BMP, GIF, and PNG file formats, the book zeroes in on the JPEG standard, perhaps today's most popular (and most complicated) image format. In a series of short chapters, the book looks at JPEG in detail, from basic file organization (its format and marker fields), file compression techniques (like Huffman coding and DCT), and how to decode (read) and encode (write) JPEG images. By condensing hundreds of pages of specifications and documentation from the voluminous JPEG standard into this short volume, the author has created a worthwhile summary of key JPEG features and compression techniques useful to any graphics programmer.

The book also includes C++ code for a simple JPEG encoder (on the accompanying CD-ROM). This example can get you started compressing images using the JPEG format. In addition, the book discusses techniques for creating and decoding progressive JPEGs (used for downloading images in stages, in progressively finer resolutions, over the Internet).

Whether you are a programmer faced with decoding or encoding image data, or an interested Webmaster who wants to know the pros and cons of today's image file formats, Compressed Image File Formats provides a worthwhile and concise reference to what's inside image files. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: bitmap basics, color models, Windows BMP file format, XBM file format, JPEG basics and file format, JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF), JPEG Huffman Coding, data unit encoding, Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), matrix operations, JPEG decoding and encoding, progressive JPEG, GIF file format and compression, and PNG file format.

Product Description

Examines the most common graphics file formats in detail and demonstrates how to encode and decode image files for each. Offers in-depth coverage of the elaborate JPEG and newer PNG formats, providing clear explanations of complex concepts, experience-based practical techniques, and code examples. Softcover. CD-ROM included. DLC: Image processing--Computer programs.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (August 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201604434
• ISBN-13: 978-0201604436
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #727,370 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A detailed reference guide for programmers., September 27, 1999

By A Customer

I had the opportunity to examine this book both in manuscript and published form, and I must say that I am quite impressed. It provides good overview and detailed implementation notes with source code examples for a variety of image formats. The chapters dedicated to JPEG explore many aspects of the standard and offer suggested implementation notes for both compression and decompression, and the book would be valuable based on this information alone. The remaining chapters discuss the common GIF format and its patent-free successor (PNG) as well as other compressed image formats in regular use. Source code examples in C++ are included in the enclosed CD-ROM along with sample images. In summary, Miano's book provides a sturdy reference for graphics programmers or anyone interested in the details of today's most popular image formats.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author Response, June 5, 2003

By	Jim Slade (Summit NJ) - See all my reviews

I thought I would respond to the negative comment regarding JFIF files. As the reader points out, the sample source code on the CD checks for the JFIF header. This reason for this is to be an educational excercise in file formats. As the reader points out, this causes the source code not to work with JPEG files from digital cameras that do not use the JFIF format. The difference between these formats is simply the use of APPn markers (essentially comments).

To make the book source code work with these files you simply need to comment out one line of code -- the place where it checks for the existance JFIF header.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very goof book for starters, May 5, 2004

By	V. Jonkers (Tilburg, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

If you know very little about the technical aspects of file formats, and you want to write your own applications, then this is the book you are looking for.

BUT, if you have limited experience in programming (visual C++ eg.) then this might not be the book for you. Don't expect full source code, it only shows you the way to do it (and adequatly at that). You really need to know the basics of data structures and dictionaries otherwise you won't go much further as reading/writing bitmaps.

Also a bit of knowledge about discrete cosine (Fourier) transforms really helps, otherwise JPEG seems like a magic formulae (and I alway want to know what I'm doing :)

But all in all this is a great book to start from, it really contains all the information you need to handle(read.write):
-BMP
-GIF
-JPG
-PNG files.
Another reviewer complained about incompleteness of the JPEG section, but this standard is so vast that a complete volume could be written about it. The book covers the JFIF file format which 99.9% of the file on the web are.

Enjoy this book! and no, I'm NOT the author!:)