With the exponential growth of digital data production, conventional storage technologies face increasing challenges related to scalability, durability, and environmental impact. DNA has emerged as a promising alternative storage medium due to its exceptional density, longevity, and sustainability. In this context, the JPEG Committee (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 1) has developed the JPEG DNA standard (ISO/IEC 25508), the first specification for image coding on synthetic DNA, which is currently in its final stages of standardization. The goal of the standard is to enable the efficient and robust representation of digital images using DNA as a storage medium, while addressing challenges such as biochemical constraints and high error rates. This paper provides an overview of the JPEG DNA standard, describing in detail its codec-agnostic core coding system able to encode not only images but also arbitrary binary data, and presenting a performance comparison with state-of-the-art alternatives. In particular, the codec is observed to be able to encode data at 1.83 bits/nt without producing homopolymers or repeated patterns and keeping a balanced content of C and G nucleotides. In addition, a discussion is provided on ongoing developments and remaining challenges in the standardization process, including a wide discussion of the performance of the JPEG DNA standard in the presence of noise.
This paper is published in Optical Engineering + Applications 2025, 1st Conference for developments in optical design and engineering, impacting photonic device and applications research, 3-7 August 2025, San Diego, California, USA / Also published in Proceedings Volume 13605, Applications of Digital Image Processing XLVIII; 136050P (2025) and is made available as an electronic preprint with permission of SPIE. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.
