The definition given by the authors of xv is that "xv is an interactive image manipulation program for the X Window System. It can operate on images in the GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PBM, PGM, PPM, XPM, X11 bitmap, Sun Rasterfile, Targa, RLE, RGB, BMP, PCX, FITS, and PM formats on all known types of X displays. It can generate PostScript files, and if you have ghostscript (version 2.6 or above) installed on your machine, it can also display them."

By using xv, you can convert different file formats supported by xv. For example, if you want to convert abc.gif to abc.jpg, then

1. type command "xv abc.gif&". A window will popup showing the file abc.gif.
2. click the figure by right-button of the mouse. Another window titled "xv controls will popup.
3. click the "Save" button to popup the window titled "xv Save".
4. click the "Format" pull-down menu and select the submenu "JPEG".
5. click the "Ok" button. A window titled "xv jpeg" will popup. You can change the quality and smoothing of the figure.
6. click the "Ok" button. From the "xv controls" window, you can see a new file abc.jpg was generated. The original file abc.gif is untouched.

The homepage of

is at