JPEG2000 episode 2: 8 fields where you can find JPEG2000 compression
This is the second part of five-part series on JPEG2000 compression standard.
Not long ago, we launched this serial on the JPEG2000 format. The first part covered the benefits of JPEG2000 and this one is describing different fields or applications where you can come across JPEG2000.
Simply put, JPEG2000 is used anywhere where is a need to store and transmit high quality image or video data. And that is a lot of places. So, we’ve picked 8 different fields where JPEG2000 compression plays a key role.
1) Broadcast and Film Production
JPEG2000 format is gaining popularity in broadcast studios and movie production houses for use in the production process as it provides superb image quality and enables editors to work faster. It saves bandwidth and speeds up the production because the recorded video can be edited in the same JPEG2000 format at all stages, from camera through the post-production process, right up to the final distribution as for example the IMF JPEG2000 format.
It is also important that JPEG2000 codec can be very fast in software because it enables faster adoption of cloud processing and new video formats such as Ultra HD 4K or 8K video.
Where JPEG2000 is used: film production, broadcast studios
2) Digital Cinema
Almost all cinemas and multiplexes are digital and today all movies for digital cinemas are distributed and screened in JPEG2000 DCI format. JPEG2000 was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because of its superior image quality.
Where JPEG2000 is used: digital cinema distribution
3) Archiving & Government
JPEG2000 compression is used for image and video archiving thanks to its to its ability to compress data in mathematically lossless fashion. In this lossless mode JPEG2000 is able to reduce a file to up to one third of the original size and yet the image data can be reconstructed to its original form without any loss.
For this, lossless JPEG2000 is used in archives or libraries where great deals of documents, image, or video data need to be stored for long period of times.
Where JPEG2000 is used: libraries, museums, archives, government
4) Healthcare
Image data processing and archiving is an important for healthcare as well. Devices such as mammograms, X-rays, MRIs, or CTs produces high-resolution digital images that calls for high quality and often mathematically lossless compression in order to be efficiently stored.
Thanks to the high quality JPEG2000 compression medical centers and hospitals can store larger amounts of image materials.
Where JPEG2000 is used: hospitals, healthcare institutions, PACS
5) Surveillance and Defense
Defense a surveillance all around the world record more images and videos than ever before. And they all rely on JPEG2000 codec.
The advanced features of JPEG2000 enable drone (UAV) operators to see images and videos in preview resolution and instantly switch to full quality when needed. It is also important that JPEG2000 can store much higher bit precision. While other formats are limited to 8 or 10 bits, JPEG2000 can handle 16 or more bits per each color sample. The video which is then analyzed by specialists can therefore reveal details that would be otherwise unnoticed.
Where JPEG2000 is used: defense, surveillance, intelligence service
6) Commercial Aerial Documentation
The defense is not the only application for high quality aerial images. A number of companies based their businesses on perfect knowledge of a specific surrounding. With the aid of JPEG2000, they can obtain higher quality data and save storage and bandwidth.
Satellite and drone imagery is used to monitor fields in modern agriculture, detect intrusion on energy infrastructure, or monitor crops and mine outputs for finance and business intelligence.
Where JPEG2000 is used: agriculture, energy infrastructure, finance and business intelligence.
7) Speed cameras / Traffic enforcement applications
A number of current traffic enforcement applications are based on processing digital images which are sent directly from the cameras to computers, and which are then examined by police officers. The quality and speed of the transmission is therefore essential.
Similarly to medical or aerial applications it is important to preserve high bit precision of the images. The traffic enforcement brings difficult lighting situations such as night pictures of license plates with strong cars lights.
Where JPEG2000 is used: speed cameras, traffic enforcement, transport research centers
8) Virtual Reality (VR) video
Virtual reality videos are becoming more and more popular these days. JPEG2000 gives the creators of VR videos the possibility to extract lower resolution versions directly from the stream without any additional processing and it was designed with a focus on interactive and high-quality applications.
Furthermore, JPEG2000 is able to decode just the field-of-view or in other words the part of a spheric video which is currently seen by the spectator. At the same time, the format can decode the video in lower resolution so if the person quickly shifts or rotates her view, the video is already there and JPEG2000 automatically improves the resolution almost instantaneously.
Where JPEG2000 is used: 360° and VR video production
Conclusion
There is really a lot of different applications for JPEG2000 compression. Ranging from video to still picture they are all about high quality and this why JPEG2000 was invented in first place: to replace the original JPEG format and provide better compression ratio and advanced features which we explained in the first part of this series.