Extract text from Bi-level scans (JBIG2)
To convert JBIG2 scans to another format, you need XpdfReader or other Raster Image software.
To convert other file formats to the "Monochrome Image File" file type, you need software like XpdfReader or a similar tool.
A .JBIG2 file is a highly compressed bi-level (black and white) image file created using the Joint Bi-level Image Experts Group standard. It is primarily used to compress scanned documents, faxes, and text pages. By grouping similar character shapes (pattern matching), it achieves compression ratios three to five times better than older standards like G4 fax or TIFF.
These files are rarely found on their own; they are typically embedded within Adobe Acrobat PDF documents to drastically reduce the file size of scanned pages. When standalone .jbig2 files do exist, they can be handled by command-line tools like XpdfReader or Ghostscript. For more technical details, see the JBIG2 Wikipedia article.
Users frequently need to convert this file because standard operating systems cannot open it. Default image viewers like Windows Photos or macOS Preview lack native JBIG2 support. Furthermore, the format is strictly 1-bit; it cannot store color or grayscale data, making it useless for standard photography.
To make the content accessible, you should convert .jbig2 to PNG or TIFF for image viewing, or PDF for document sharing. Be aware that if the original compression was 'lossy', minor visual artifacts might be permanently baked into the image.
Because JBIG2 is a specialized, often embedded format, standard online converters fail to process it. Just drag and drop your file onto convert.guru to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. We can inspect the file, analyze the underlying bi-level data, and attempt extraction or conversion safely.
Convert.Guru analyzes your JBIG2 file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted JBIG, JB2, PNG, PDF, IC3, IC1 and ADEX files.
If you want to convert JBIG2 file to JPG, PDF, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TIF, WEBP, ICO, CUR, PSD or PSB, you can use XpdfReader or similar software from the "Bi-level Image Compression" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert RAW, PNG, AI, NEF, PSB, DNG, SVG, GIF, EPS, JPG, ARW or PDF files to JBIG2, try XpdfReader or another comparable tool in the "Bi-level Image Compression" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our JBIG2 converter.