The multiple countries participating in the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the JPEG standard, have approved an effort to make Microsoft’s High Definition Photo format a standard called JPEG XR. XR stands for “extended range,” a reference to the format’s ability to show a wider and finer range of tonal gradations and a richer color palette.

The move is an important step in the transformation of the photo format from an in-house technology called Windows Media Photo to a neutral format more likely to be palatable to companies that don’t want to be beholden to Microsoft.However, the move also means that Microsoft will have to be more patient with its hopes to get HD Photo to catch on more broadly. Standardization “typically takes around a year,” said Bill Crow, who has led Microsoft’s HD Photo project.

[Via Bink.nu ]