ImageReader

An abstract superclass for parsing and decoding of images. This class must be subclassed by classes that read in images in the context of the Java Image I/O framework.

ImageReader objects are normally instantiated by the service provider interface (SPI) class for the specific format. Service provider classes (e.g., instances of ImageReaderSpi) are registered with the IIORegistry, which uses them for format recognition and presentation of available format readers and writers.

When an input source is set (using the setInput method), it may be marked as "seek forward only". This setting means that im