JasPer
JasPer is a computer software project to create a reference implementation of the codec specified in the JPEG-2000 Part-1 standard - started in 1997 at Image Power Inc. and at the University of British Columbia. It consists of a C library and some sample applications useful for testing the codec.
The copyright owner began licensing the code to the public under an MIT License-style license in 2004 in response to requests from the open-source community. JasPer operated as a component of many software projects, both free and proprietary, including netpbm, ImageMagick and KDE. the GEGL graphics library supported JasPer in its latest Git versions.
In a series of objective JPEG-2000-compression quality tests conducted in 2004, "JasPer was the best codec, closely followed by IrfanView and Kakadu".
However, Jasper remains one of the slowest implementations of the JPEG-2000 codec, as it was designed for reference, not performance.Etymology
The name "JasPer" has simultaneous connotations with Canada's Jasper National Park, with the semi-precious gemstone, jasper, and with "JP" as an abbreviation of the JPEG-2000 standard.
