DjVu

Today I had my first encounter with the DjVu file format, which is:

…a web-centric format and software platform for distributing documents and images. DjVu can advantageously replace PDF, PS, TIFF, JPEG, and GIF for distributing scanned documents, digital documents, or high-resolution pictures.

NOAA is using the format to distribute archival daily weather maps from the period 1871 through 2001.

Comments

DerekMac's picture
DerekMac on October 26, 2004 - 23:50 Permalink

Here on PEI, the weekly Eastern and West Prince Graphics (peicanada.com) use this excellent format to deliver “digital replicas” of these newspapers to subscribers. These files are much more compact than Adobe PDF, and display extremely quickly. The files are hosted at Advanced Publishing Corp. in Saint John NB, who are the North American licensee for RealView, a publishing platform which uses the free DjVu browser plug-in.

DerekMac's picture
DerekMac on May 2, 2005 - 10:49 Permalink

I note that the Graphics have scrapped DjVu in favour of the more common Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format. I expect they save money by converting and hosting the files themselves. As well, almost everybody has the Adobe PDF reader already installed on their computer, so there are few installation problems. Downside is that the files are must larger, and each edition has to be split into several files.