Java ImageIO IIOException: Unsupported image type?

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Try to check the encoding of the JPEG. ImageIO can’t read CMYK-encoded jpeg images for example.
AFAIK, ImageIO hasn’t been updated for years, so you’d like to try and use the official alternative/extension: JAI ImageIO.

Unforutnately, JAI ImageIO needs some native libraries installed into the JRE, which might be unwanted.
We do the following:

  • use Apache Sanselan to detect, whether it’s a JPEG
  • since Sanselan can’t read and write JPEG, use the plain old AWT JPEGCodec: JPEGCodec.createJPEGDecoder(...)
  • to convert CMYK to RGB, we then get the raster of the read BufferedImage and manually convert it (you could use ICC profiles, but the manual conversion fits our needs)

Here’s a question of mine that resulted of the fact that ImageIO doesn’t support all types of JPEG images, and I there stated a little more of my findings of why you get that message: Pure Java alternative to JAI ImageIO for detecting CMYK images

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