.djvu File — DjVu Document

DjVu (pronounced 'déjà vu') is a file format designed primarily for storing scanned documents, especially those containing a combination of text, line drawings, and photographs. Developed at AT&T Labs in the mid-1990s, DjVu uses advanced compression techniques including separated layers for foreground text, background images, and masks, achieving compression ratios far superior to TIFF, PDF, or JPEG for scanned pages. A typical 300 DPI color page can compress to 40-60 KB in DjVu compared to several hundred KB in PDF. The format supports multi-page documents, text layers for search and copy operations, hyperlinks, bookmarks, and annotations. DjVu is particularly popular for digitized books, academic papers, and archival documents where high-quality reproduction of scanned material at minimal file sizes is essential. The format is well-suited for slow internet connections and limited storage scenarios, making it common in online libraries and digital archives across the developing world.