Customers of all types want to use their color images; they want to use the images in compositions, to enhance their communications, to share them easily across the Internet and to make them part of their recorded memories. However, they currently find it too difficult to perform these types of tasks.The photographic and computer industry is faced with the challenge of delivering compelling digital imaging product solutions to consumers and SOHO computer users that make using color photographic images commonplace on desktop computers. This challenge has gone unmet—until today.The FlashPixTM image file format, developed in collaboration with leading industry partners Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Live Picture Inc., provides the foundation for delivering better digital imaging solutions. It builds on the best features of existing formats (Kodak Photo CD Image Pac file format, Live Picture IVUE, TIFF, JPEG, etc.), while adding other powerful new features. With the right software, it can provide an experience where the user does not need to be concerned with (or even understand) resolution or pixels. Meanwhile, it provides the platform for applications to deliver more efficient, faster, and more consistent image-enabled solutions.The FlashPix format truly serves as an open, cross-platform format that will lead to the rapid introduction of new color digital imaging products for consumers and business users. The format also includes higher level functions so applications can use optional viewing transforms to perform simple edits (such as rotation, color correction, cropping, etc.). This capability enables faster, real-time image editing on standard desktop computers and permits the processing of the “transformed image” to be deferred until print-time or performed remotely.The presentation and paper will describe the technical detail behind this revolutionary concept that allows computer users to easily us e color photographic pictures.The FlashPix format is defined in a specification and a test suite developed and published by Kodak in collaboration with Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Live Picture Inc. Only products that meet the specification and pass the test suite may use the FlashPix file format name.