New File Format Seeking to Supplant the JPEG

Hat Tip: FStoppers

(Original story at ExtremeTech)

There have been many attempts to supplant the ubiquitous jpeg file format/compression method.  None have been successful so far.  Even the alternatives backed by tech companies like Mozilla (mozjpeg) and Goggle (WebP) have failed to take hold.

Jpeg compression results in artifacts and blocky images. The alternatives avoid those issues.  So why can't they replace a file format with obvious weaknesses that is twenty years old at this point?

Inertia.

The fact that the jpeg format is twenty years old is part of the problem that developers must overcome when attempting to replace that format.  It has been around so long that just about every device no matter what OS it runs can recognize the file format and display it correctly.  This includes old computers running obsolete operating systems.

New file formats lack the that compatibility.  That means a new file format/compression method must offer features that ensure widespread adoption.  The other major formats (PNG, TIFF and GIF) did that by offering features not provided by the jpeg format. 

So, does the new format offer any features that might result in its widespread adoption?


BPG

The new format is BPG (short for "Better Portable Graphics") and is based on the HEVC/H.265 video codec.

There are a couple of features that might result in broad adoption.

First, the format offers similar or better image quality than the jpeg format when images are compressed with smaller sized files.  This alone probably isn't enough for the format to supplant the jpeg.  There just aren't that many applications where decreasing the size of an image from that created using the jpeg format would make much difference.

Second, the BPG format supports 14-bit color and alpha transparency.  This is where the BPG becomes interesting.  14-bits of information per channel provides much greater dynamic range of information than is supplied by the 8-bits per channel used by the jpeg format.  This makes the BPG much better suited for digital photography.  (The ability to save transparency information makes it better suited for certain web applications.)

Finally, as an adaptation of the H.256 codec, the BGP format can be decoded by any hardware capable of decoding H.256 video.  These devices would not need to rely on software to decode a BPG image.


As a side note, BPG images can be decoded using JavaScript.  This means that any modern web browser will be able to display the image, even if the computer hosting the browser lacks the necessary codec.  This gives the format a leg-up when it comes to widespread web adoption.