Rhode Island Geographic Information System Data --- RIGIS Data

JPEG2000 Image Format Information

JPEG2000 (or JP2) is a specialized image format that excels at compressing very large, detailed images into smaller, more portable files. Aerial photographs are becoming increasingly more detailed, resulting in larger file sizes that are less convenient to share and can occupy large amounts of disk space if they are not compressed. Specialized information about the JPEG2000 image format is available.

Over time, you will find RIGIS making available an increasing amount of images in JPEG2000 format as well as their native uncompressed file format (when possible and practical). We have found this to be the most practical and affordable image compression option currently available to us, and will likely become the industry standard. JPEG2000 is supported by all modern GIS software and accessible by several free image viewers.

After downloading a JPEG2000 formatted image from RIGIS, you may need to install some software to view the file. If you are not a GIS user, our recommended viewer is either GeoViewer (standalone software for Windows) or the ExpressView Browser Plug-in, both available from LizardTech. These software perform well, and also may be used to view the MrSID compressed images RIGIS distributes.

More options include IrfanView (be sure to install the JP2 extension), ERDAS ViewFinder, and ESRI ArcGIS Explorer.

MacOS users may use the Preview app to view JPEG2000 files, however it seems to only work with images that consist of three or fewer bands.

Another alternative for Windwos and MacOS users is the free MultiSpec software application, available from Perdue University. It is particularly useful if the software you currently have access to have trouble viewing JPEG2000 files that have more than three bands of data.