In many cases, the performance of libjpeg-turbo rivals that of proprietary high-speed JPEG codecs.
libjpeg-turbo implements both the traditional libjpeg API as well as the less powerful but more straightforward TurboJPEG API. libjpeg-turbo also features colorspace extensions that allow it to compress from/decompress to 32-bit and big-endian pixel buffers (RGBX, XBGR, etc.), as well as a full-featured Java interface.
libjpeg-turbo was originally based on libjpeg/SIMD, an MMX-accelerated derivative of libjpeg v6b developed by Miyasaka Masaru. The TigerVNC and VirtualGL projects made numerous enhancements to the codec in 2009, and in early 2010, libjpeg-turbo spun off into an independent project, with the goal of making high-speed JPEG compression/decompression technology available to a broader range of users and developers.