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H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

x264dev.multimedia.cx

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Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#2
Even if all the vendors in a position to do so put in support for WebP today, it would be pretty much a decade before it got any serious use. Most Cameras take pictures as jpegs, and re-encoding jpegs in another lossy format is a losing proposition.

So anything released today is of necessity in it for the long haul. That said, maybe releasing a spec today from one player isn't the way to go. Google should be talking with Microsoft, Apple, and their hardware partners to look at next-generation technology they can put out, unencumbered by any patents and figure out a 3-year timetable after which they will have the format ready for use in cameras and phones. At the hardware level where the data is encoded off the CCD. Partnering with Flickr, Facebook, etc. they could make sure that these phones and cameras with next-gen encoders work out of the box, on the web.

Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#3
post #2

Even if all the vendors in a position to do so put in support for WebP today, it would be pretty much a decade before it got any serious use. Most Cameras take pictures as jpegs, and re-encoding jpegs in another lossy format is a losing proposition. So anything released today is of necessity in it for the long haul. That said, maybe releasing a spec today from one player isn't the way to go. Google should be talking…

Cameras also take pictures with an order of magnitude more pixels and far more coefficients than are needed for web display. You can safely ignore the transcoding effects when you are also downsizing and "down-quality-ing".

Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#4
post #2

Even if all the vendors in a position to do so put in support for WebP today, it would be pretty much a decade before it got any serious use. Most Cameras take pictures as jpegs, and re-encoding jpegs in another lossy format is a losing proposition. So anything released today is of necessity in it for the long haul. That said, maybe releasing a spec today from one player isn't the way to go. Google should be talking…

I don't think most pictures on the Internet come from a camera verbatim.

If you look at something like cnn.com or arstechnica.com - most images on that page have been scaled, cropped, composited with other images and finally re-encoded.

Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#5
> it doesn’t even support all of JPEG’s features, let alone many of the much-wanted features JPEG was missing (alpha channel support, lossless support). It only supports 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, while JPEG can handle 4:2:2 and 4:4:4. Google doesn’t seem interested in adding any of these features either.

Wrong:

> We plan to add support for a transparency layer, also known as alpha channel in a future update.

from: http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2010/09/webp-new-image-format...

Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#6
post #4
post #2

Even if all the vendors in a position to do so put in support for WebP today, it would be pretty much a decade before it got any serious use. Most Cameras take pictures as jpegs, and re-encoding jpegs in another lossy format is a losing proposition. So anything released today is of necessity in it for the long haul. That said, maybe releasing a spec today from one player isn't the way to go. Google should be talking…

I don't think most pictures on the Internet come from a camera verbatim. If you look at something like cnn.com or arstechnica.com - most images on that page have been scaled, cropped, composited with other images and finally re-encoded.

Where are most pictures on the Internet? I would guess Facebook and Flickr, uploaded by users who haven't the skill or the time to bother touching up the pictures they took today.

Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#7
post #2

Even if all the vendors in a position to do so put in support for WebP today, it would be pretty much a decade before it got any serious use. Most Cameras take pictures as jpegs, and re-encoding jpegs in another lossy format is a losing proposition. So anything released today is of necessity in it for the long haul. That said, maybe releasing a spec today from one player isn't the way to go. Google should be talking…

> Google should be talking with Microsoft, Apple, and their hardware partners to look at next-generation technology they can put out, unencumbered by any patents

But Apple and Microsoft are not interested by formats unencumbered by patents. Google, xiph and the fsf have been pushing for such formats for decades and Apple and Microsoft have been doing the contrary, pushing hard for their patents encumbered wm9 and AAC.

Unfortunately, Google is alone on this one and will have to push webm and webp and any other open format on their own.

Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#8
post #6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think most pictures on the Internet come from a camera verbatim. If you look at something like cnn.com or arstechnica.com - most images on that page have been scaled, cropped, composited with other images and finally re-encoded.

Where are most pictures on the Internet? I would guess Facebook and Flickr, uploaded by users who haven't the skill or the time to bother touching up the pictures they took today.

[deleted]

Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#9
post #6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think most pictures on the Internet come from a camera verbatim. If you look at something like cnn.com or arstechnica.com - most images on that page have been scaled, cropped, composited with other images and finally re-encoded.

Where are most pictures on the Internet? I would guess Facebook and Flickr, uploaded by users who haven't the skill or the time to bother touching up the pictures they took today.

The only time you see an original photo on Flickr is by going to choose size and selecting original. Everything else has been re-encoded.

Re: H.264 and VP8 for still image coding: WebP?

#10
post #6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think most pictures on the Internet come from a camera verbatim. If you look at something like cnn.com or arstechnica.com - most images on that page have been scaled, cropped, composited with other images and finally re-encoded.

Where are most pictures on the Internet? I would guess Facebook and Flickr, uploaded by users who haven't the skill or the time to bother touching up the pictures they took today.

Flickr, Picasa and such re-encodes the images to various sizes for display even if the untouched original is available. I believe that many phones offer to downsize before upload to save bandwidth in the other direction too.
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