ART image file format - Definition and Overview

ART is a proprietary image file format mostly used by the America Online® (AOL) client software. The ART format (file extension ".art") holds a single still image that has been highly compressed. Originally, the compression was developed by the Johnson-Grace company which was then acquired by the AOL service (ref (http://www.usc.edu/isd/publications/archives/networker/96-97/Sep_Oct_96/profile-reed.html)) (Article checked August 1, 2004.) When an image is converted to the ART format, the image is analyzed and the software decides what compression technique would be best (ref (http://www.webreference.com/dev/graphics/compress.html)) (Article checked August 1, 2004.)

The AOL service can automatically convert images downloaded from the Internet to the ART format. This conversion reduces the downloading time for the image file. If you notice image display problems with the AOL web browser, see this America Online webmaster FAQ entry (http://webmaster.info.aol.com/faq.html#graphics).

External Links

• An article with information on the history of Johnson-Grace and the ART image compression (http://www.usc.edu/isd/publications/archives/networker/96-97/Sep_Oct_96/profile-reed.html)
• A webreference.com article with technical details on the ART image format (http://www.webreference.com/dev/graphics/compress.html)
• An America Online webmaster FAQ entry on graphics display problems (http://webmaster.info.aol.com/faq.html#graphics)
• U.S. Patent 5,892,847 Method and apparatus for compressing images (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,892,847.WKU.&OS=PN/5,892,847&RS=PN/5,892,847)
• U.S. Patent 5,822,456 Optimal spline interpolation for image compression (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,822,456.WKU.&OS=PN/5,822,456&RS=PN/5,822,456)
• U.S. Patent 5,682,152 Data compression using adaptive bit allocation and hybrid lossless entropy coding (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,682,152.WKU.&OS=PN/5,682,152&RS=PN/5,682,152)