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JP2 converter

A .jp2 file is a JPEG 2000 image in the boxed JP2 container: wavelet-compressed raster data plus the header boxes that declare its colour space and metadata. It was designed as JPEG's technical successor and, although the web never adopted it, it became the standard in digital cinema, medical imaging, and archival scanning.

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Drop JP2 files here

Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.

Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.

Where JP2 comes from

The JPEG committee published Part 1 of JPEG 2000 as ISO/IEC 15444-1 in 2000, replacing JPEG's block DCT with a wavelet transform and EBCOT entropy coding. Patent uncertainty and heavy decode cost kept it off the web, but the Digital Cinema Initiatives specification adopted it in 2005, DICOM added it for medical images, and national libraries standardised on it for scanned collections.

How JP2 works

  • Discrete wavelet transform: the reversible LeGall 5/3 filter for lossless coding and the irreversible CDF 9/7 filter for lossy
  • EBCOT coding produces an embedded bitstream, so one file can be truncated to a lower quality or resolution without re-encoding
  • Supports very large component counts and bit depths, arbitrary tiling, and regions of interest coded at higher quality
  • The JP2 container is a box structure carrying the signature box, JP2 header, colour specification, and optional XML, UUID/XMP and intellectual-property boxes
  • No blocking artefacts: heavy compression degrades into wavelet blur rather than 8x8 blocks

When to use JP2

  • Digital cinema packages, where the DCI specification mandates JPEG 2000 for the picture track
  • Medical imaging inside DICOM, where lossless coding is often a regulatory requirement
  • Library and archive scanning programmes that need one master file serving many resolutions
  • Geospatial imagery, where huge rasters are streamed by tile and resolution level

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Lossless and lossy in one codec, with the same file able to serve many resolutions and quality levels
  • Noticeably better quality than JPEG at low bitrates, with no block artefacts
  • Deep bit depths, many components, and an alpha channel

Limitations

  • No mainstream browser decodes it, and Safari dropped its support, so it is unusable for web delivery
  • Encoding and decoding cost far more CPU and memory than JPEG
  • Tooling is specialised, and the format's history of patent uncertainty slowed adoption permanently

Compatibility

ImageMagick, GraphicsMagick, GDAL, ExifTool, Photoshop through its JPEG 2000 plug-in, IrfanView, and every DICOM and digital-cinema toolchain read .jp2. Browsers do not: Chrome and Firefox never shipped a decoder, and Safari's macOS-provided support was withdrawn. This converter decodes it in the page with the native JPEG 2000 decoder inside the self-hosted FFmpeg core the site already loads for video and audio, which is why the route costs no additional engine download.

The JP2 container holds an ICC profile in its colour specification box and can carry XMP in a UUID box, EXIF in a UUID box, arbitrary XML, and an intellectual-property box. This converter reads the pixels only; header boxes are not carried into the raster outputs.

Convert JP2 to another format