FILE FORMAT FOR AN IMAGE INCLUDING MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF AN IMAGE, AND RELATED SYSTEM AND METHOD

A system for retrieving an image from a network comprises: (1) a server application; (2) a plurality of image files, each storing an image in a plurality of different versions, and connected to the server application; (3) a client application which enables a user to select and retrieve a desired version of a desired image; and (4) a communication application providing a communication link between the client and server applications wherein, in use, the user can select a desired image and a desired version of that desired image for retrieval and display. The versions of the image are stored such that when a low resolution version of the image has been obtained, a high resolution version can be obtained simply by downloading the difference between the two versions of the image.