Microsoft Taking On JPEG; About Damn Time!
Microsoft has unveiled its new image compression format, called Windows Media Photo, which will be natively supported in Windows Vista and upgrades to XP. WM Photo features 24:1 compression while retaining far more detail than JPEG or JPEG 2000 formats. Microsoft is shooting to have higher quality than typical digital cameras while at a 12:1 level (most cameras use 6:1, so that’s a very good thing).
The format also has advanced features, including processing to only show part of the image to shrink it, and rotating without re-encoding the image.
The new image format was received with cautious enthusiasm by some of the WinHEC attendees. Ralf Mueller, an application planner at mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson, said he would look into the new format just as his company looked into supporting Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video.
“Considering our development cycle, I could not see us supporting Windows Media Photo before 2008,” Mueller said.
Yet, success will depend on adoption, Wells said. Microsoft will need to get players such as Adobe Systems and Apple Computer on board to win over the graphics professionals, he noted. A major unknown is licensing, which Microsoft has not yet addressed. “Licensing can kill this,” Wells said.
Microsoft has finished the first official version of the “porting kit” software needed to build support for Windows Media Photo into devices and platforms other than Windows. It should be available soon, Crow said.
Licensing details for the technology are still being ironed out. These could be a concern, Crow acknowledged, but “the philosophy has been that licensing should not be a restriction” to adoption, he said.
I gotta say, even if the format was terrible, I’m delighted to see Microsoft do this. There is no conceivable reason image compression should stay the same, no more than video or audio codecs should. Microsoft pushing a new format invites development and improvement, and hopefully everyone will win in the end.
Here’s what I want to know: Are we going to get Windows Media Photo for Web? Right now, for websites concerned with bandwidth, there’s a lot of improvement needed for browser-served images. I’d like Microsoft to optimize the lower end of the codec for web pages, saving every possible bit, and doing a much better job than JPEG/GIF/PNG are doing. Just look at how poorly modern image compression handles Windows Vista screenshots, and you’ll see what I mean.
And if Microsoft is smart, it’ll realize that owning a popular media format is more important than making money off of it, since adoption of Windows Media Photo will likely help calm people who are psychologically averse to using Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video files. Give away a lifetime non-commercial license of WM Photo for free to Apple and Adobe, please!
(via TechMeme)
Hey, Nathan, you’re quoted on Cnet news:
http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-6076885.html
And I agree, PNG is a good format but it does leave some to be desired. I hope that we can get some new image formats because JPEG is showing its age….
Comment by pentapenguin | May 25, 2006
Looking at the compression information it appears that the greater compression comes with larger images with more data, not small images with less data. Thus I don’t think that huge amounts of bits, bytes, and kilobytes will be saved if sites were to convert over. Another long standing issue will be browser adoption. If users are still dragging their feet with Windows 98, 2000 and XP, Vista, unless it is just stunningly engaging, is not going to get the market share enough for users to jump to a platform that supports this. I give this 5+ years before it is useable as a [de facto] standard.
Comment by Randy Peterman | May 25, 2006
Windows Media Photo – Vores nye billedeformat…
Hej folkens
Ved ikke helt om det er en nyhed længere, men Microsoft har løftet sløret for et nyt billede-format,……
Trackback by Kenneth Auchenberg | May 27, 2006
“I gotta say, even if the format was terrible, I’m delighted to see Microsoft do this. There is no conceivable reason image compression should stay the same, no more than video or audio codecs should. Microsoft pushing a new format invites development and improvement, and hopefully everyone will win in the end.”
Except, y’know, for that whole part about how the formats we have are pretty good, and images are one of those things where compatability trumps all…
Comment by dude | May 28, 2006
dude, if the format is terrible, no one will use it, but my hope is that Microsoft’s failure will inspire others to try. Also, compatibility is so easy in this case (just get the top 2 browser makers to support it), that it can be a non-issue.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | May 31, 2006
> dude, if the format is terrible,
> no one will use it, but my hope is
> that Microsoft’s failure will
> inspire others to try.
Nathan,
wise opinion!
I think that Microsoft *knows* it is terrible, that’s why they didn’t propose it for official standardization at the committees.
The ITU-part of the JPEG committee is actually developing a *real* JPEG update with exciting advanced features (JPEG-2000 was a hoax). Microsoft is aware of this development and just try to save some own research investments.
For the new JPEG developments see following documents:
http://jpegclub.org/temp/ITU-T-JPEG-Plus-Proposal_R2.doc
and
http://ftp3.itu.ch/jpeg1x/
Regards
Guido Vollbeding
Organizer Independent JPEG Group
Comment by Guido Vollbeding | May 31, 2006
JPEG strikes back!
Here is the news release from ITU:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/newslog/20+Years+Of+JPEG+Celebrated+With+Software+Launch+.aspx
By the way, I have finished Revision 3 of my Proposal:
http://jpegclub.org/temp/ITU-T-JPEG-Plus-Proposal_R3.doc
It adds an Annex with new “Sudoku” extension proposal.
Regards
Guido Vollbeding
Organizer Independent JPEG Group
Comment by Guido Vollbeding | June 5, 2006
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