The DjVu Format — What it is and why it’s not dead
Storing documents is an essential aspect for future reference, and choosing the best file format is one of the best decisions primarily web users could ever make. DjVu refers to one file format that stores scanned documents and, in most cases, those with photographs, line drawings, text combinations, and color images.
Because of the format’s capability to compress many files and maintain high-quality color images or drawings, it is one of the commonly used formats for manuals, eBooks, newspapers, or even old documents that have been scanned and stored in a computer. And the main reason why it is not dead to date. There are still millions over millions of DjVu documents in existence, although another format gained the race to become industry standard: The PDF Format. So what are the main characteristics of PDF?
The DjVu Format
Since its inception, the DjVu format has passed through several stages and has provided a hierarchy of containers well known as Chunks. The documents in this format are known as IFF85 files and can be single or multipage documents that can take either bundled or indirect forms. They are smaller than PDF files, making them a preferred storage mode for students who deal with web environments.
What is DjVu used for?
The primary use of DjVu is to store scanned documents that have a mixture of color images, photographs, drawings, and such in less space due to its high compression rate. It is known to occupy less space than PDF files and is thus great for students engaged in major curative works.
DjVu compared to PDF
Much as PDF came in to complement DjVu, it is evident that each of the formats has its advantages, and the reason we need to know how each is better than the other or their limitations. The highlights of DjVu are:
- DjVu saves on space: Since the format can accommodate many scanned documents, it can hold many booklets with heavy graphics, colors, and even patterns, yet it will consume little space compared to PDF.
- Rapid Graphics: If the pictures are rasterized in advance, it becomes easy and fast to redraw them, and the users feel more user-friendly.
- A good feel of an electronic book: The interface used in DjVu is such that rather than scrolling every page, one can easily use the arrows to lick and navigate from one page to another.
- DjVu does not have as many competitors as PDF: PDF was embedded into Office of Windows Vista and developed several challenges such as restrictions on the quality of fonts. Therefore, it is hard to convert the document. However, in the case of Djvu, all these formats integrate well, and it has other algorithms that enable the scanning of all types of fonts. On the same note, rivals like the XPS, who effectively compete with PDF, do not have a competition space in DjVu.
On the other hand, PDF is characterized by the following specs:
- Extensive Usage: PDF is widely used in offices, and it is easy to create a PDF document using adobe. This is contrary to DjVu, where you will hardly find an office using the format.
- Excellent Data Compression: As much as PDF does not accommodate graphics in a good way as DjVu, its data compression will hardly experience losses but is very efficient when making contracts.
- Certified in the ISO standard: Being a digital format, many companies are using the format and, as such, being certified as an ISO-certified document format.
- Easy to find it on the internet: The abbreviation PDF is easily found on the internet, but even pronouncing DjVu is a problem, and as such, fast runs and primary usage on the internet.
How to Convert Between DjVu and PDF
Due to the similarity of the two formats, it is a common problem to convert between DjVu and PDF. When googling how to solve this problem, you will find a lot of free online converters. Some will perform better, others worse. One service that stood out from the crowd was the DjVu to PDF converter by converter.app. It is convincing in terms of speed and quality and allows the conversion of an unlimited number of files. Besides, it’s one of the easiest and most friendly apps
The usage of this app is straightforward: On Converter App, drag the file on the upload box, or better still, browse and attach it from your disk. Wait for the conversion to take place. You can choose the output quality and favorite compression level at this point. Download the converted document, which is free, and save it for later usage.
Alternatively, you can do the conversion also with offline tools like DjVuLibre. This library is free and there are prebuilt versions for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Furthermore, the underlying source code is available under the GPL license. It provides a set of command line tools helping to convert from and to DjVu which requires some expertise.
Conclusion
Using DjVu files will offer one an outstanding balance between size and quality, but PDF is an excellent format for high-quality images. It is therefore essential to understand the benefits of each of them and make a decision on which is more favorable for your use.