used, thus reducing the overall cost of the deployed hardware or software solution. JPEG is used as a compression tool for two primary reasons: to reduce file sizes for transmission or archival storage and to archive 24-bit color images instead of eight-bit color images. Clearly, the ability to reduce the number of bytes required to store an image is an advantage. It reduces the cost of networking by reducing the amount of connect time required to transmit an image across a network and lowers IT costs by reducing the amount of disk space required to store the image. JPEG can easily achieve compression ratios in excess of 20:1, meaning that a 2 MB file becomes a 100 KB entity following JPEG compression. The second fundamental advantage of JPEG is that it stores full, 24- bit color information. GIF, the other image format that is widely used on the Web (discussed later), stores eight bits/pixel-256-bit color. GIF is designed for inexpensive computer displays. However, high-end display units are becoming quite cost-effective, and JPEG photos are far richer than GIF images when displayed on lower-cost displays. For this reason, GIF is seen by many as becoming obsolete. The truth is, however, that JPEG will not completely replace GIF because for certain forms of images GIG continues to be a superior solu- tion. For the most part, JPEG is better than GIF for storing full-color or gray-scale images of natural scenes such as scanned photographs and continuous-tone artwork. Any smooth variation in color, such as that which occurs in the highlighted or shaded areas of a subtle image, will be represented far more faithfully and in less space by JPEG. On the other hand, GIF does a better job on images with only a few distinct colors such as sketches, maps, line drawings, and cartoons. Not only is GIF considered lossless for these images, it often achieves com- pression ratios far higher than JPEG can achieve. For example, large numbers of clustered pixels that are the same color are compressed very Downloaded from Digital En