File formats

DICOM vs JPEG / PNG screenshots

A DICOM file preserves every bit the scanner captured. A JPEG or PNG screenshot throws most of it away. For diagnosis, the difference matters.

What you lose converting to JPEG

Bit depth: CT/CBCT data is 12 or 16 bits per pixel. JPEG is 8. The dynamic range needed to show air, soft tissue, fat and bone in the same image only fits in the higher bit depth — JPEG forces a fixed window/level burn-in.

Spatial information: the 3D nature of the volume is gone. Each JPEG is just a single 2D plane at one window setting. You can't go back and re-slice in another direction.

When JPEG is fine

For email summaries, patient education printouts, marketing or non-diagnostic reference, an annotated JPEG export from the viewer is fine. Many viewers (CBCTHub included) export labeled screenshots specifically for these uses.

For diagnosis, second opinion, surgical planning or insurance documentation, send the underlying DICOM. Include the JPEG too if it helps point at the finding, but the DICOM is what enables real interpretation.

FAQ

Are DICOM JPEG files okay?

DICOM can wrap a JPEG-compressed pixel data. Lossless DICOM-JPEG (e.g. JPEG-LS, JPEG-2000) preserves diagnostic information. Lossy DICOM-JPEG should be avoided for diagnosis.

My patient asked for "the CBCT". Should I send JPEG or DICOM?

If the patient is going to a specialist, send DICOM (or a viewer link). If the patient just wants to see what was found, JPEG screenshots are fine.

Why does the JPEG look fine to me?

JPEGs at the right window can look diagnostic — until the receiver wants to look at a different tissue type or measure something. Then the limits show.

Share DICOM, not screenshots

CBCTHub generates a viewer link from any DICOM upload — the receiver gets full diagnostic data without installing anything.

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