A bit more context from the page: > The images historically used for compression research (lena, barbra, pepper etc...) have outlived their useful life and its

A bit more context from the page: > The images historically used for compression research (lena, barbra, pepper etc...) have outlived their useful life and its about time they become a part of history only. They are too small, come from data sources too old and are available in only 8-bit precision. > These high-resolution high-precision images have been carefully selected to aid in image compression research and algorithm evaluation. These are photographic images chosen to come from a wide variety of sources and each one picked to stress different aspects of algorithms. Images are available in 8-bit, 16-bit and 16-bit linear variations, RGB and gray. > You are encouraged to use these images for image compression research and algorithm evaluation. Suggestions for further improvements are always welcome. I am currently looking at different image formats/png optimizers and trying to compare them, so having a set of images to compare is nice. I do feel like they're not exactly representative of what an image can be on the web or on my computer. I was thinking of adding a few things for my own use: a screenshot, an image macro, a page of manga.