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Old 27th February 2018, 18:51   #1  |  Link
Neillithan
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 124
New Image format Pik beats AV1, X265 and FLIF

Okay, so disclaimer up front. The title is a bit of a clickbait. Pik is some newfangled image format aimed at replacing jpeg, which is quickly becoming a saturated arena with web browsers scratching their heads at what to do. It *doesn't* beat AV1, x265 and FLIF in *all* scenarios, but it *certainly* beats them in *most*. Also, I'm not promoting this format, I'm simply fascinated by new emerging image formats that aim to replace JPEG. Also, when I say "x265", I'm referring to the range of derivatives such as BPG, HEIF, etc.

For instance, AV1 and X265 are intended to be video codecs, aimed at providing superior motion quality, but not really aimed at providing superior static image quality. So, while they're fantastic at improving gradient quality at a tiny filesize, they're not so fantastic at preserving granular details at a tiny filesize. And don't get me started on FLIF (Great once it's loaded, terrible until it's loaded).



The Pik image format aims to be a true *lossy* JPEG replacement, and it's not without it's pros and cons.

Pros:
- Preserves granular detail such a noise.
- Preserves micro detail in a sea of gradients that would otherwise be washed out or blurred due to the rigorous gradient preservation of AV1 and x265 (things such as wires, flag poles, light poles, stars, etc).
- Significant reduction of artifacts at tiny filesize.
- Preservation of gradients and limited or no unsightly banding.
- Fast encode and decode.


Cons:
- Might be 20-50KB larger than AV1 or X265 in some instances (Proof that people don't read, so I'm bolding this text so people might read it)
- Produces a lot of unsightly artifacts around edges of objects.
- Faces adoption issues because it doesn't have the backing of several dozen companies like AV1 does, and also web browsers like Firefox are rigid unmovable giants, burdened with philosophical ideologies, that refuse to change unless Google does it first and Firefox arbitrarily decides they should plagiarize their efforts #sickburn
- Probably many years away from completion.

To view comparison images, go here: https://wyohknott.github.io/image-fo...en&jp2=t&pik=t

Link to the project's GitHub page. https://github.com/google/pik

Last edited by Neillithan; 28th February 2018 at 02:28.
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