This invention enables progressively higher resolution images of a JPEG compressed image to be produced in a cost effective manner during the JPEG decompression process. The operation count is very low when images of {fraction (1/64)}th, {fraction (1/16)}th, and ¼th of full resolution are to be produced without doing a full JPEG decompression. The low resolution images are useful for high speed search, and the ability to produce them without doing full decompression is an important factor in making such search practical.