Windows Media Photo vs. JPEG

Everybody has heard of JPEG. This is the format of most of the photographs that we see on the Internet and the ones that we click with our digital cameras. It has been around for quite some time now (since 1994 to be precise).

However, continuing with their tradition of starting media format wars, Microsoft recently announced the availability of a new Windows Media Photo format that is supposed to be a new and improved (pardon the oxymoron) file format that allows better quality with possibly a reduced size.

Enthusiasts would know that Microsoft took on the MP3 format with their Windows Media Audio format. Similarly, they took on DivX, RealVideo, MPEG-x, and QuickTime video formats with their Windows Media Video format. Both Windows Media formats gained mild popularity primarily because of their support for Digital Rights Management (DRM). However, most users still prefer MP3, DivX and MPEG for personal use.

On a related note, a company named Forgent has been suing companies (31 - including Microsoft and many other major players) for infringing on a patent which they say covers the basic aspect of JPEG encoding. In a landmark decision, the USPTO decided that the broadest claim for this patent was actually invalid, based on a review request and prior art submitted by the PUBPAT (Public Patent Foundation), a non-profit organization that challenges patents that stifle innovation, instead of supporting it.

With the Forgent threat over, people should find the JPEG standard easier to return to, instead of defining and supporting a new format. Then again, Microsoft *is* the world's largest software maker and has the monopoly in the operating system market. If the equivalent of the 'Windows Paint' tool in Windows Vista saves files in the Windows Media Photo format by default, people would more often than not, go for this option. Stay tuned in as the story unfolds.