DICOM images do not often have topics devoted to them online.  Today I was searching for a compelling reason not to use standard DICOM file format vs compressed DICOM file format (using lossless JPEG).  So I ran a few tests.  I copied a DICOM image file and compressed it using Sante DICOM editor.  The file size was approximately 3x smaller than the standard image size.  I then compared the file headers on both files and noticed additional tag information in the compressed image header data.  Comparing the image quality in Sante DICOM editor I could find no pixel difference at all.

So why would I not convert all of my DICOM images to compressed DICOM?  I’m not sure yet.  I suspect the only downside would be DICOM viewer issues with compressed DICOM.  But who reads DICOM images with a viewer that does not support compressed DICOM?  Probably no one.  Prepare to be converted my standard DICOM images…