Is javax.imageio the best way to load images?

Is the javax.imageio the best way to load images. With best I mean fastest and with transperancy support. I want to load the images into CompatibleImages.

It’s the recommended way, that’s for sure.

More supported formats, pluggable architecture, loaded images can be rendered to, and so on.

Also, starting with 1.5 images loaded with ImageIO will be managed.