Slashdot Mirror


Can A New Open Photo File Format Replace JPEGs? (cnet.com)

Got lossless compression? An anonymous reader quotes CNET: Google, Mozilla and others in a group called the Alliance for Open Media are working on a rival photo technology. In testing so far, the images are 15 percent smaller than Apple's HEIC photo format, said Tim Terriberry, a Mozilla principal research engineer working on the project. But smaller sizes are just the beginning... it's got a strong list of allies, an affinity for web publishing and modern features that could make it the best contender yet for overcoming JPEG's 1990s-era shortcomings... JPEG isn't just limited by needlessly large file sizes. It's also weak when it comes to supporting a wider range of bright and dark tones, a broader spectrum of colors, and graphic elements like text and logos...

The HEIC's new rival is from the Alliance for Open Media, a group whose top priority is a video compression technology called AV1 that's free of patent licensing requirements. It's got heavy hitters on board, including top browser makers Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and the most recent new member, Apple -- though Apple's plans haven't been made public. And it's got major streaming-video companies, too: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Facebook, videoconferencing powerhouse Intel and Google's YouTube. And with the support of chip designers Intel, Nvidia and Arm, AV1 should get the hardware acceleration that's crucial to making video easy on our laptop and phone batteries.

To use Apple's HEIC, "makers of software, processors and phones must jump through a lot of hoops to license patents," which CNET predicts "means HEIC will have trouble succeeding on the web: patent barriers are antithetical to the web's open nature."

6 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why should JPEG be replaced? by arth1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can someone tell us what's wrong or deficient with JPEG?

    Quoting the post (not even the linked text):
    "JPEG isn't just limited by needlessly large file sizes. It's also weak when it comes to supporting a wider range of bright and dark tones, a broader spectrum of colors, and graphic elements like text and logos..."

  2. Re:Why should JPEG be replaced? by theweatherelectric · · Score: 5, Informative

    AV1 outperforms JPEG. AV1 delivers a smaller file size at the same quality or better quality at the same file size. Try this comparison of JPEG and AV1 at the same file size.

  3. Re:Container vs codec by theweatherelectric · · Score: 4, Informative

    Heic is an image container.

    You're thinkig of HEIF. HEIC is the file extension convention Apple adopted to indicate a HEIF file which contains HEVC encoded images.

    With backing from every major tech company but Apple

    No. Apple has joined the Alliance for Open Media. So Apple is an AV1 backer as well.

  4. Re:JPEG already replaced, try to beat PNG by theweatherelectric · · Score: 5, Informative

    PNG doesn't replace JPEG. JPEG enables lossy compression for a smaller file size, PNG does not. AV1 has both lossy and lossless modes. AV1 lossless outperforms PNG. Lossless WebP (based on VP8, an ancestor of AV1) also outperforms PNG.

  5. Re:JPEG already replaced, try to beat PNG by eriks · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, is definitely a thing:

    http://makeanddo4d.com/spreads... :)

  6. Re: Why should JPEG be replaced? by Jesus+H+Rolle · · Score: 5, Informative

    Other places use paper of a slightly different arbitrary size.

    Other places use paper that makes sense. One sheet of A0 is 1 square meter with an aspect ratio of sqrt(2). Keep cutting it in half to get A1, A2, A3, and so on, all with the same aspect ratio. A4 is close to 8.5x11, and is used for the same things. Metric paper really shines when you want to shrink/enlarge to the next paper size, thanks to the common aspect ratio.