Summary

Although the new JPEG 2000 data compression method has not yet truly reached the market, it has already achieved an unusually high level of attention in the industry. Compression rates of 1:200 or higher represent breakthroughs in image compression. In addition, the new data format supports a series of functions that are of major potential interest for software engineering. The following report investigates, in an empirical study, the question as to whether the high expectations of JPEG 2000 in relation to visual quality are in fact justified. For this purpose, the work situation of the graphics industry is taken as a basis, and especially that of newspaper printing. The present work continues the investigations concerning JPEG carried out six years ago, the results of which were published in Ifra Special Report 2.17 Efficiency of file formats and data compression for storage and data transmission.