Are they the same?
If you've used a computer, digital camera, or smartphone long enough, you've probably seen files with JPG or JPEG extensions. But is it the same thing? What is the difference? We will explain to you.
These are two abbreviations for the same aspect ratio
“JPG” and “JPEG” are two equivalent file extensions that both refer to the same digital image format. JPEG is short for “Joint Photographic Experts Group”, which is a technology industry group that created the JPEG image format widely used in digital cameras, social media and on the web.
The JPEG format was born in 1992. At that time, most personal computers in the world were running the Microsoft MS-DOS operating system, which only supported three-letter file extensions (borrowed from CP/M) . Accordingly, JPEG files were given the extension "JPG" 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.
Today, Windows and macOS can handle the full .JPEG file extension, and most applications understand and open .JPG and .JPEG files the same way. So if you have files with either extension that open fine in an image viewer or editor, there's no need to make any changes on your part.
Can I convert JPEG to JPG?
Good news: since JPEG and JPG files have the exact same image format, no conversion is needed to turn a JPG file into JPEG, or vice-versa.
Instead, all you have to do is rename the image file and change the file extension. For example, if you have a file named "IMAGE.JPEG", and you prefer to have "IMAGE.JPG", use your operating system's renaming function to change the filename to "IMAGE.JPEG" and remove the "E" of the "JPEG" extension. You can also do the same in reverse, 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 fairly easily on both Windows (by selecting multiple files and selecting "Rename" from the context menu) and Mac (using the "Rename Items" option in the menu bar). On Windows, make sure to show file extensions first. Good luck!
Point: You can also use Microsoft's free PowerRename tool for this on Windows.
RELATED: How to quickly rename files in batch on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux
