Microsoft Releases HD Photo Plug-In For PhotoshopMicrosoft Releases HD Photo Plug-In For Photoshop

Microsoft on Friday released for download the final version of a plug-in that allows users of Adobe's Photoshop digital imaging software to work with files created in Microsoft's new HD Photo format.

The plug-in is intended for use with Photoshop CS2 or CS3 running on Windows XP or Windows Vista. Use with other versions or platforms aren't officially supported, Microsoft said.

The plug-in is compatible with a wide range of pixel formats, including high dynamic range and wide gamut, and a number of other advanced HD Photo features, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft introduced HD Photo in March with the hope that it will one day supplant the widely-used JPEG format as the industry standard for electronic photography and digital imaging.

Microsoft claims HD Photo allows digital photographers and editors to capture and transmit high quality image files that are half the size of image files created using JPEG. The company also maintains that HD Photo produces fewer unwanted visual artifacts in digital images than JPEG. JPEG has been used for years by photographers at major news organizations such as the Associated Press and is supported by most digital imaging software manufacturers, including Adobe.

It's not the first time that Microsoft and Adobe have differed on file standards. The two companies have a longstanding disagreement over which file format should dominate the market: Adobe's PDF or Microsoft's XPS document format.

In keeping with its practice of developing its own computer file formats and unleashing them on the market by embedding them in its products, Microsoft said HD Photo is natively supported by Windows Vista and in its .Net Framework 3.0.