Spaced Out ::

JPEG2000 is rapidly becoming one of the most popular image formats due to its high compression, lossless/lossy format and open specification. NASA use it for distributing HiRISE images, whilst I recently downloaded some photogrammetrically scanned air photos from NERC in JP2. Whilst quite alot of packages now support JP2 (both remote sensing such as Imagine and graphics such as PhotoShop), they can be painfully slow. Thankfully IAS Viewer is a free Java applet that can view both on and offline imagery VERY quickly. Well worth using if you need to browse imagery.

And if you really are wedded to Photoshop (or other graphics package) then try the j2k plugin. It’s also pretty fast and works well; in Paint Shop Pro it loaded a JP2 image that the native importer wouldn’t.