: This paper gives performance-based results for the application of a leading recognition algorithm applied to standardized iris imagery. The implementation was evaluated in NIST's IREX program. The program was conducted in cooperation with the iris recognition industry to evaluated whether standardized image formats can be interoperable and compact. This is required for federated applications in which iris data is exchanged between interoperating systems, passed across bandwidth-limited networks, or stored on identity credentials. The study gave quantitative support to the revision of the ISO/IEC 19794-6 standard. This paper shows the effect of compression on false non-match rate and also, notably on false match rate also. The paper compares JPEG and JPEG 2000.