Windows Embraces New Space-Squeezing Photo Format

Megalith

Megalith

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Support for the High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) is coming to Windows 10. While it has little to no chance of overtaking JPEG as the de-facto image format, it is superior in terms of file size: HEIF files are generally 50% smaller, despite being identical in quality.

HEIF is a big deal since it can free up storage space and help you avoid running into your monthly network data cap. But there's more, too: It's actually a flexible data container that can accommodate live photos, bursts of photos, 3D scene data useful for special effects, audio, and more.
 
Hopefully, somebody will make an application to access hief format in other Windows and Linux versions. That would help it become the new standard, but that may not be what the walled garden that is Apple wants. ;)
 
HEIF isn't a slam dunk, though. It's burdened by complex requirements for patent royalty payments. Web technology developers typically despise patented technology, which is one reason a possible rival photo format from Mozilla, Google, and others is interesting.
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That's a surefire way to make sure it's not universally adopted.
 
There is a specific reason they are pushing this, and it has to do with hashing and catching weirdos.
 
really big push behind this format, cant seem to find anything that outlines any negative side effects to using it .

its all, its half the size of your JPEGS !!! and its wonderful !!!

nothing about working in heif or how heif holds up when being used and mangled repeatedly from one use to another . (ie jepgs being resized over and over and over by web sites)

only thing i can some what determine is that larger images may be slower to view on older devices.

also im not so keen on the apple devices automagically converting heif to jpeg when sent outside the ios11 environment .

but like i said nothing really talking about any cons heif is the god send image format we have all been waiting for .

god forbid we ever wise up and standardize on a truly open image format.
 
Monthly cap? That would be like a googleplex of images. Not saying HEIF isn't "neat", but needed? Probably not.
 
RealBeast said:
Hopefully, somebody will make an application to access hief format in other Windows and Linux versions. That would help it become the new standard, but that may not be what the walled garden that is Apple wants. ;)
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Apple doesn't lock anybody into HEIF to keep them in a walled garden. When sharing from an Apple device, images/videos get converted to standard JPEG/H.264 on-the-fly for the sake of maintaining compatibility.
 
chaos4u said:
... god forbid we ever wise up and standardize on a truly open image format.
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The open caveat being the "complex requirements for patent royalty payments" to be taken on by outside developers designing apps/devices to take, view, edit and manage, HEIF files?

JPEG, TIFF and GIF are very much the de facto standards in devices and on the web. The major issue with each has always been scalability versus file size.

If HEIF is to get any real traction they need to eliminate the royalty requirements and make the spec truly open.
 
more capabilities means MORE opportunities for malicious content.
safer for us if they segregate the functions.
 
Aren't we post compression already? What will I gain from having an image at 50Kb instead of 100 Kb?
 
Calavaro said:
Aren't we post compression already? What will I gain from having an image at 50Kb instead of 100 Kb?
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Pretty sure high traffic hosters like Google, Facebook, Amazon etc. care about every KB saved because it sums up over time.
Traffic and storage aren't cheap either, consumers might not care much but companies that host content do a lot.
 
Calavaro said:
Aren't we post compression already? What will I gain from having an image at 50Kb instead of 100 Kb?
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When was the last time you had a web page picture that was only 100kb other than icons and artwork? What are we up to 5-10 megs a page load now?
 
Calavaro said:
Aren't we post compression already? What will I gain from having an image at 50Kb instead of 100 Kb?
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Please don't forget there are millions of people out there living on slow internet (something slower than your old 56k dial-up internet). Slower image means faster web loading.
 
Spidey329 said:
That's a surefire way to make sure it's not universally adopted.
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That is exactly what I was thinking... "Oh hey here's something that's better... but programs/hardware can only use it if you pay Microsoft a licensing fee"
 
sfsuphysics said:
That is exactly what I was thinking... "Oh hey here's something that's better... but programs/hardware can only use it if you pay Microsoft a licensing fee"
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Motion Picture Experts Group actually and it looks like it uses the same type of license type as the rest of their stuff.
 
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