This paper proposes a new codec design method based on JPEG for face images and presents its application to face recognition. Quantization table is designed using the R-D optimization for the Yale face database. In order to use in the embedded systems, fast codec design is also considered. The proposed codec achieves better compression rates than JPEG codec for face images. In face recognition experiments using the linear discriminant analysis (LDA), the proposed codec shows better performance than JPEG codec.