tomad Loc: North Carolina

Of particular interest (to me) is the wider color gamut and the higher dynamic range...

"JPEG, the lossy compression standard for images used on the Internet and digital cameras, might receive a much-needed upgrade by year's end. The creators of JPEG XL claim their free open-source format offers up improvements that will result in a significant reduction in global bandwidth and storage costs.

The JPEG image format was first developed by researchers at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the 1980s. Over the years, due to its many advantages over other formats of the time, it became the go-to format for photos on digital cameras and the World Wide Web. At the time, it was revolutionary, cutting down on the time it took for images to load (think 5 seconds compared to minutes) and could store up to 50 images, rather than 1, on a memory card.

For almost 30 years, this standard, which uses data compression to keep files small, has remained largely unchanged and unchallenged, even after several unsuccessful attempts. That, however, could change. Several formats introduced in the past to replace JPEG, including JPEG 2000, JPEG XR, Google's WebP, and even HEIC have fallen short of widespread adoption. JPEG XL is hoping to rewrite that script.

JPEG XL can take existing JPEG files and transcode them, losslessly, to reduce their size without compromising their quality. A single JPEG XL file can be stored on a server and serve both JPEG and JPEG XL clients. A JPEG XL file can also be restored to the initial JPEG through backwards compatibility without compromising the file.

The format will benefit photographers by including a wide color gamut, HDR (high dynamic range), and high bit depth images.

The format will benefit photographers by including a wide color gamut, HDR (high dynamic range), and high bit depth images. Support for printing, large panoramas, 360-degree imagery, and image bursts is also available. Optimized for responsive web environments, it's also addressing current Internet user needs on a wide range of devices such as tablets and smartphones.

'JPEG XL further includes features such as animation, alpha channels, layers, thumbnails, lossless and progressive coding to support a wide range of use cases including but not limited to photo galleries, e-commerce, social media, user interfaces and cloud storage,' reads the official overview. What the creators promise is superior image quality, a codec ratio smaller than the typical 20:1 to 50:1, and encoding plus decoding without hardware acceleration on mobile devices.

The standard has four specifications which will be combined to make JPEG XL the standard, going forward, by the end of 2021, so long as the project doesn't encounter any setbacks. Even if it gets set in stone before the end of the year, it may take time for it to be compatible on all the applications and platforms available. To find out if your browser supports JPEG XL, you can check here. Those interested in the coding system can check out the white paper."

https://www.dpreview.com/news/5829652105/jpeg-xl-image-format-promises-smaller-files-backwards-compatibility-and-more?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2021-july-14&ref_=pe_1822230_595103960_dpr_nl_486_13

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I wonder if this too will fall into the category of other formats mentioned, fall short of widespread adoption.
--Bob

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Great.
But I will probably stick to RAW.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

--Bob

tomad Loc: North Carolina

Yes Bob, that was my initial thought too, but this sounds like a real improvement to the original JPEG in every way. Besides the two image enhancements that I mentioned the smaller storage requirement and the ability to revert to original JPEG (although the only reason I can think of that anyone would do this would be because some software, print processor, etc. did not support the new format) may be of interest to a lot of people/companies, especially photo hosting companies that store millions, if not billions of photos. And the ability to downscale it to Original JPEG would solve problems during these software transitions.

I can't see any downside besides the software retooling to accept and work with the new format. Many, already do this on a regular basis to accommodate new RAW formats.

Thanks for your comment!

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Thanks good info to know.
JPG was done right the second time in 1994, and this sounds like it could be even better.
Lots of compression apps promised, and may even be better for some things, but none have touched jpg. Perhaps j-peg will
do it again. If not, amazingly, jpg is still in good shape.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It should be adopted! Y'all go first.

(Wake me when it's popular.)

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes, the problem with competing standards is that JPEG fulfills its role as a distribution and proofing medium rather well. It's hard to nudge folks away from it, since everyone uses it at some point.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

It would certainly facilitate cloud storage of large numbers of photos.

Otherwise, perhaps it's arriving too late. Years ago, when bandwidth was limited and hard drive storage expensive, it would have been a godsend.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

There have been many attempts to update jpeg... Jpeg2000, XT, etc.

All of them bite the dust because they where never adopted.

What use is a standard if there are virtually no devices that use it.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

Still miles away from RAW

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

The questions is whether camera manufacturers adopt the format SOOC.

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

Looks to be very interesting. Thanks.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind