How do I add support for a proprietary image format in Windows Photo Viewer / Picasa Viewer

Question

I am working on developing a lossless compression algorithm using MATLAB.

I would like to see some of my compressed images on windows photo viewer. Could anyone direct me on how to go about doing this? Where may I find specifications to create a codec that would work with windows photo viewer?

I am guessing that I could create a codec as a .ddl file and place it in some windows directory and Photo Viewer could decode my file format. I have seen some softwares from Nikon imaging that, once installed, allowed photo viewer to display the .NEF (Nikon's RAW) files.

I am also willing to consider developing the codec for picasa.

Answer 1

I think I discovered what I was looking for - It is called Windows Imaging Component. The MSDN docs appear to be here and an example of an implemented coded is webP.