JPEG

noun

ˈjā-ˌpeg 

plural JPEGs

: a computer file format for the compression and storage of digital images

The file format commonly used for photos is the highly compressed JPEG format …

—Consumer Reports

also : an image stored in this format

… seems convenient until you unknowingly open a virus-laden executable program disguised as a JPEG.

—Scott McNealy

Examples of JPEG in a Sentence

Most of the pictures are JPEGs.

Recent Examples on the Web

Now Windows users have been issued another warning about a threat hiding in plain sight that weaponizes JPEG image files to attack. —Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025

However, this was easily fixed by lens correction applied during JPEG formatting in-camera or correction in Adobe Photoshop. —Harry Bennett, Space.com, 3 July 2025

The app has manual controls, including shutter speed and ISO, and can capture photos in RAW and JPEG. —Julian Chokkattu, Wired News, 21 June 2025

For more than 30 years, JPEG has made high-quality, high-resolution photography accessible in operating systems far and wide. —IEEE Spectrum, 17 June 2025

The platform handles transactions and delivers JPEG files to customers. —Kathy Kristof, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 June 2025

Take a Microsoft Office document, a JPEG, CAD drawings, or other file format type, and turn it into a PDF in seconds. —New Atlas, 29 May 2025

One set of instructions demanded a JPEG, while another indicated that PNG and GIF files would also be accepted. —Amanda Chicago Lewis, Harpers Magazine, 29 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Joint Photographic Experts Group

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above