Better JPEG

Reviewed by Terry Bibo

BetterJPEG is a graphics manipulation program that offers superior control over graphic data when editing files. Traditionally JPEG files lose data every time they are edited and resaved, and can develop artefacts that distort and misrepresent elements of the graphic. This occurs because JPEG is a compressed format and each resaved compression sacrifices data to achieve smaller files. This program essentially retains all data when copying, cropping, flipping and rotating images.

Technically JPEG images consist of standard coded units (Minimum Code Units or MCUs) of 8x8, 8x16, or 16x16 pixels, and the program adheres to these units in editing to prevent loss of information. Because of this, rotation can only be by 90 or 180 degrees, and minor corrections to re-establish verticals must be done in an external application. Corrections to hue, saturation, contrast, gamma, and the like must be handled by an external application too. This initially concerned me, but BetterJPEG permits copying and pasting to achieve these changes, and when the image is finally resaved it is compared to the original so that blocks that did not change will not be recompressed.

The user interface is the familiar Windows Explorer layout with thumbnail images of graphics in the left pane, and the selected image shown larger size in the right pane where it can be zoomed, cropped, flipped or rotated. Toolbars give immediate access to main commands and subsets of those commands. I was especially impressed with the cropping options:

All giving a highlighted selection on an otherwise shaded picture.

The top and left of the crop area are always aligned on MCU blocks boundaries to avoid JPEG recompression. These cropping features have to be seen to be understood and appreciated, but I imagine they would have great appeal to members of our Digital Image SIG.

Digital cameras store an enormous amount of information with their images, including date, time, f-number, exposure time, ISO, focal length, etc. This is known as EXIF data, for Exchangeable Image File Format, and is a standard for storing interchange information in image files. Elements of these data, or custom text, can be saved on the image in a font and position of the user's choice as reference material for later times. This could be important if you intend saving the image in another format, such as PNG or TIFF, where your EXIF data are lost in the transfer.

Undoubtedly there are many competitors to this program, but as an enthusiastic amateur photographer I feel a real appreciation for the features, presentation and friendliness of BetterJPEG.

The 30-day trial version is available on-line at http://www.betterjpeg.com/download.htm and can be registered for 23.95 US Dollars.

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