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Does anyone know how these compare with the HEIC format that it seems my iPhone now uses by default? Is that non-mainstream, or otherwise not fit for comparison

Does anyone know how these compare with the HEIC format that it seems my iPhone now uses by default? Is that non-mainstream, or otherwise not fit for comparison?

izacus 6y ago
It's a proprietary patent-encumbered format which isn't really widely supported in the web browsers.
- zerocrates 6y ago
  I happened to look it up on caniuse.com yesterday and it's just a field of solid red: nobody supports it, not even Safari.
- Y-bar 6y ago
  Patent-encumbered? Yes. > proprietary No. It is an open standard (ISO/IEC 23008)
  - chungus_khan 6y ago
    Being patent-encumbered kind of makes it moot on the web though, just like H.265 video.
  - NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
    Oh - so actually AVIF (as discussed in the original article) is an HEIF container with AV1 as the codec, and HEIC is the same but with H.265.
chrisbrandow 6y ago
I’d be curious about that as well. I made my own minor comparisons, and heif did well, but there are a ton of possible pitfalls my comparison may have been subject to so I’d love to see a comparison by someone with expertise
irrational 6y ago
I thought HEIC is apple only and not supported by any browser. Is it even supported by Safari?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- reaperducer 6y ago
  HEIC/HEIF is not an Apple format. It's an MPEG format that's been around for half a decade. Apple started supporting it in 2017. Microsoft in 2018. You are correct, though — it's not supported by any browser.
innocenat 6y ago
I haven't follow the trend much nor seen a recent comparison, so take this with a grain of salt. WebP is based on VP8, which was considered to be competitor to H.264 (AVC). HEIC is based on H.265 (HEVC), which competes with VP9 and AV1. So I'd assume WebP is one generation behind HEIC. WebP was introduced 5 years before HEIC though.
- pornel 6y ago
  Correct. WebP is 10 years old, based on the VP8 codec that is about 14 years old, which lost in the market to H.264 that is 17 years old. In video streaming VP8 has been completely replaced by VP9 years ago, and VP9 was going to be replaced by VP10 which became part of AV1. So WebP is hardly new, and a couple of generations behind. Now the next hotness is AVIF (or maybe JPEG XL), so ironically, WebP is becoming usable and obsolete at the same time.
reaperducer 6y ago
I like HEIC under the hood, but it's not suitable for web as it has exactly zero browser support. https://caniuse.com/#search=heif https://caniuse.com/#search=heif I'm surprised that Safari doesn't support it. I believe Apple released a bit of Javascript that lets you embed the animated HEIF images (I think they're called "live pictures") in your web site, but that's kind of a niche use.

Does anyone know how these compare with the HEIC format that it seems my iPhone now uses by default? Is that non-mainstream, or otherwise not fit for comparison?

izacus 6y ago

It's a proprietary patent-encumbered format which isn't really widely supported in the web browsers.

zerocrates 6y ago
I happened to look it up on caniuse.com yesterday and it's just a field of solid red: nobody supports it, not even Safari.
Y-bar 6y ago
Patent-encumbered? Yes. > proprietary No. It is an open standard (ISO/IEC 23008)
- chungus_khan 6y ago
  Being patent-encumbered kind of makes it moot on the web though, just like H.265 video.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
  Oh - so actually AVIF (as discussed in the original article) is an HEIF container with AV1 as the codec, and HEIC is the same but with H.265.

chrisbrandow 6y ago

I’d be curious about that as well. I made my own minor comparisons, and heif did well, but there are a ton of possible pitfalls my comparison may have been subject to so I’d love to see a comparison by someone with expertise

irrational 6y ago

I thought HEIC is apple only and not supported by any browser. Is it even supported by Safari?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
reaperducer 6y ago
HEIC/HEIF is not an Apple format. It's an MPEG format that's been around for half a decade. Apple started supporting it in 2017. Microsoft in 2018. You are correct, though — it's not supported by any browser.

innocenat 6y ago

I haven't follow the trend much nor seen a recent comparison, so take this with a grain of salt. WebP is based on VP8, which was considered to be competitor to H.264 (AVC). HEIC is based on H.265 (HEVC), which competes with VP9 and AV1. So I'd assume WebP is one generation behind HEIC. WebP was introduced 5 years before HEIC though.

pornel 6y ago
Correct. WebP is 10 years old, based on the VP8 codec that is about 14 years old, which lost in the market to H.264 that is 17 years old. In video streaming VP8 has been completely replaced by VP9 years ago, and VP9 was going to be replaced by VP10 which became part of AV1. So WebP is hardly new, and a couple of generations behind. Now the next hotness is AVIF (or maybe JPEG XL), so ironically, WebP is becoming usable and obsolete at the same time.

reaperducer 6y ago

I like HEIC under the hood, but it's not suitable for web as it has exactly zero browser support. https://caniuse.com/#search=heif https://caniuse.com/#search=heif I'm surprised that Safari doesn't support it. I believe Apple released a bit of Javascript that lets you embed the animated HEIF images (I think they're called "live pictures") in your web site, but that's kind of a niche use.