JPEG 2000 as Revolutionary

Bundling Metadata with Image

The growing abundance of preservation-quality images and their associated metadata is bringing into sharp relief the need to effectively manage these resources over the long term. To date, effort has been focused on building complex software systems that bind the metadata with the appropriate image file. JPEG 2000 introduces the concept of metadata bundles within the file format itself, permanently associating the metadata with the image in one digital object.

Catalyst for Advancement of Imaging Terminology

As an image file format, TIFF had its origins in the 1980s in desktop publishing and related industries. The practice and terminology from those fields carried forward to the library and archives communities as the format was adopted as standard practice. In the intervening quarter century, imaging technology evolved with a field of science called signal processing that, at its core, represents images as mathematical algorithms. In doing so, the imaging community became concerned with the introduction of “noise” in the image “signal” from the hardware, software, and the process for capturing the image (e.g., misalignment of lenses, proper lighting of objects, and adequate construction of sensors). In order to get the most accurate reproduction of the original object in the signal, the noise needs to be reduced. To make the greatest use of JPEG 2000 as an image format, the professionals in our communities must advance their knowledge and understanding of digital image capture with concepts and language from the signal processing field.