JPEG 2000 is an international standard for the compression of still images. Although the new standard provides better compression at any given quality level, the real advantage over the DCT based “original” JPEG is the feature set. JPEG 2000 can compress different types of image data from black and white graphics to multi-spectral high bit depth imagery at extremely low bit rates or extremely high quality (including lossless). Perhaps more importantly, decisions about compression ratio or quality or region of interest can be made after the image is compressed. This wide range of capabilities make the standard useful in a diverse set of applications including: internet imaging, printing, scanning, digital photography, remote sensing, mobile, color facsimile, medical imagery, and digital libraries.This paper provides a brief overview technologies used in Part I of the standard and sample applications which make use of those features.