If you’ve been using a computer, digital camera, or smartphone long enough, you’ve probably seen files with JPG or JPEG extensions in them. But are they the same? What is the difference? We’ll explain.
They are two abbreviations for the same image size
“JPG” and “JPEG” are two equivalent file extensions that both refer to the exact same digital image format. JPEG is short for “Joint Photographic Experts Group”, a technical industry group that created the JPEG image format widely used in digital cameras, social media, and on the web.
The JPEG format originated in 1992. At that time, most PCs in the world ran the Microsoft MS-DOS operating system, which only supported three-letter file extensions (borrowed from CP/M). As a result, JPEG files were given the “JPG” extension on MS-DOS and early Windows platforms. Meanwhile, the Apple Macintosh platform (used by a small minority of computer owners) had no such limitation, so JPEG files often had the .JPEG file extension there.
Today, both Windows and macOS can handle the full .JPEG file extension, and most apps understand and open both .JPG and .JPEG files equally. So if you have files with either extension that open correctly in an image viewer or editor, you don’t need to make any changes.
Can I convert JPEG to JPG?
Good news: Since JPEG and JPG files have the exact same image format, no conversion is needed to convert a JPG file to JPEG, or vice versa.
Instead, you just need to rename the image file and change the file extension. For example, if you have a file called “IMAGE.JPEG” and you prefer “IMAGE.JPG”, use the rename function in your operating system to edit the file name “IMAGE.JPEG” and remove the “E ” of the extension “JPEG.” You can also do the same in reverse by changing “JPG” to “JPEG”.
If you have a large number of JPEG or JPG files that you want to rename, you can automate the process quite easily, both on Windows (by selecting multiple files and selecting “Rename” from the context menu) and on Macs ( using the “Rename items” in the menu bar). In Windows, make sure to mention the file extensions first. Good luck!
Tip: You can also use Microsoft’s free PowerRename tool on Windows for this.
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