JPEG column: 79th JPEG meeting in La Jolla, California, U.S.A.

AbstractDuring this meeting, JPEG had a final celebration of the 25th anniversary of its first JPEG standard, usually known as JPEG-1. This celebration coincides with two interesting facts. The first was the approval of a reference software for JPEG-1, "only" after 25 years. At the time of approval of the first JPEG standard a reference software was not considered, as it is common in recent image standards. However, the JPEG committee decided that was still important to provide a reference software, as current applications and standards can largely benefit on this specification. The second coincidence was the launch of a call for proposals for a next generation image coding standard, JPEG XL. This standard will define a new representation format for Photographic information, that includes the current technological developments, and can become an alternative to the 25 years old JPEG standard.