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1. JasPer

1.1 Overview

The JasPer Project is an open-source initiative to provide a free software-based reference implementation of the codec specified in the JPEG-2000 Part-1 standard (i.e., ISO/IEC 15444-1). This project was started as a collaborative effort between Image Power, Inc. and the University of British Columbia. Presently, the ongoing maintenance and development of the JasPer software is being coordinated by its principal author, Michael Adams, who is affiliated with the Digital Signal Processing Group (DSPG) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Victoria.

JasPer includes a software-based implementation of the codec specified in the JPEG-2000 Part-1 standard (i.e., ISO/IEC 15444-1). The JasPer software is written in the C programming language. More details about this software can be found in the JasPer Software Reference Manual.

The JasPer software has been included in the JPEG-2000 Part-5 standard (i.e., ISO/IEC 15444-5), as an official reference implementation of the JPEG-2000 Part-1 codec. This software has also been incorporated into numerous other software projects (some commercial and some non-commercial). Some projects known to use JasPer include:

(Incidentally, if you are aware of any projects utilizing the JasPer software that are not listed above, please let Michael Adams know so that he can add them to the list.)

1.2 License

The JasPer software is available under an open-source license that is based on the MIT license. The license is available in the file named "LICENSE" in the JasPer software distribution. For convenience, a copy of the license can also be obtained using the following link:

1.3 Downloads

For quite some time, the JasPer Project has been releasing the JasPer software through its official Git repository hosted by GitHub. To obtain a recent version of JasPer, this Git repository must be used, as new software releases are not currently posted on the web site that you are currently viewing. The URL for the JasPer Project on GitHub is as follows:

A snapshot of the most recent development version of JasPer from the master branch of the official Git repository can be obtained via the URL:

Some legacy (i.e., very old obsolete) versions of JasPer continue to be made available below, since these legacy version are not available from GitHub. It is strongly recommended that these legacy versions not be used, as they are very old and have many bugs that have been fixed in the newer versions available on GitHub.

The following legacy (i.e., obsolete) versions of JasPer are available for download:

The following downloads are not officially supported, but may be helpful nevertheless:

  • Patches for the xv image viewer to provide JPEG-2000 support via the JasPer library. (These patches are against JasPer 1.701.0 and were provided by Scott Marovich of Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. You can find Scott's contact information in the file containing the patches, should you wish to contact him.)
  • Patches for JasPer for OpenVMS . These patches are maintained by Jouk Jansen (joukj at hrem.stm.tudelft.nl).

Some test images are also available for download as follows:

1.4 Documentation

1.5 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • Is the JasPer software open source?

    Yes, the JasPer software is available under an open source license. (The license is based on the MIT license.)

  • Can I use JasPer in commercial products?

    Yes, you may use the software for commercial purposes as long as you do not violate the terms of the license.

  • How can I obtain a copy of the JPEG-2000 test images?

    At present, not all of these images can be distributed to the general public, due to their uncertain copyright status. Fortunately, a few of these images can be distributed at this time, and are available from the download section of this document.