4 ms·

I quite liked this article from about a month ago on "The Case for JPEG XL": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33442281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=

by ck45 4y ago

I quite liked this article from about a month ago on "The Case for JPEG XL": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33442281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33442281

jmull 4y ago
The case is not that compelling to me… > * Lossless JPEG recompression Obviously, jpeg has this. I know it is supposed to be a 20% reduction in size, but that is a relatively small incremental improvement. > * Progressive decoding jpeg also has this, and it’s a niche feature these days. > * Lossless compression performance png covers this > * Lossy compression performance Nice, but a relatively small incremental improvement in the general case. > * Deployable encoder This isn’t a case for jpeg xl, just table stakes for any format. > * Works across the workflow Not really a reason to include jpeg xl in the browser unless it actually is being widely used across workflows. Actually, this is something of a negative considering the resulting complexity of the codec and image format and that it muddles the distinction between the authoring and published form of an image. There are negatives too, so it’s not enough to be a little better for some cases..codecs are attack vectors. An all-new complex codec is an all-new broad attack surface. And, of course, it’s yet another feature to test and maintain, which costs time and necessarily pulls focus away from other things.
- Avamander 4y ago
  > Obviously, jpeg has this. I know it is supposed to be a 20% reduction in size, but that is a relatively small incremental improvement. Let's not forget that a 20% reduction across the entire internet is very significant. > jpeg also has this, and it’s a niche feature these days. Because we can't rely on it, I'd suspect? > png covers this Without covering the rest. > Not really a reason to include jpeg xl in the browser unless it actually is being widely used across workflows. This line of thinking will inevitably lead to a chicken-and-egg problem. Just like with EdDSA certificates and for example H/2 PUSH (support of which got deprecated basically the same time some frameworks just added support). I think the web doesn't move as fast as Google thinks or hopes it does, and it has and will make people reluctant on adopting next new features.
  - simias 4y ago
    I think progressive jpeg works just fine, I recall it being quite popular in the early days of the internet when loading a large image could take a long time on landlines. You'd get a blurry preview that would incrementally become more detailed. I agree that it's niche these days because typically modern connection speeds mean that it's a waste of resources to iterate on the picture instead of loading it at once. Even on mobile networks the issues are connection reliability and latency, once the image starts pouring in it'll likely come in its entirety quite quickly. If you load images large enough that it becomes a real issue you would generally (in my experience) just have a smaller independent thumbnail/preview image you'll display while the large version is loading. That usually gives you more control on how things will look and avoid having a blurry mess on the user's screen.
    - JyrkiAlakuijala 4y ago
      I don't think that's accurate. Progressive JPEG has been the biggest winner in the image formats during the last 10 years. It grew from pretty much nothing to about 25 % of all JPEGs today. Much of this is powered by mozjpeg creating progressive jpegs by default. Chrome and other render them progressive, with recent (2019–21) improvements in quality. While first round or two of updates can be noticeable, the last 40–55% of loading is usually impossible to notice as a change.
      - simias 4y ago
        Interesting! That may be why I never noticed it. Thank you for the correction which unfortunately few people will see...
  - dehrmann 4y ago
    > Let's not forget that a 20% reduction across the entire internet is very significant. In 2003. Now that we have streaming video, it's pretty minor.
    - jonsneyers 4y ago
- supermatt 4y ago
  PNG quality AND progressive decoding. AFAIK there is no other supported codec offering this.
  - niutech 4y ago
    PNGs and GIFs can be interlaced, which is similar to progressive decoding.
    - supermatt 4y ago
      Not really similar. 10% of an interlaced image is effectively a bunch of horizontal lines. 10% of a progressive image is usually high enough fidelity to present the image in full colour - even less if you are happy with greyscale.

by ck45 4y ago

I quite liked this article from about a month ago on "The Case for JPEG XL": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33442281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33442281

jmull 4y ago

The case is not that compelling to me… > * Lossless JPEG recompression Obviously, jpeg has this. I know it is supposed to be a 20% reduction in size, but that is a relatively small incremental improvement. > * Progressive decoding jpeg also has this, and it’s a niche feature these days. > * Lossless compression performance png covers this > * Lossy compression performance Nice, but a relatively small incremental improvement in the general case. > * Deployable encoder This isn’t a case for jpeg xl, just table stakes for any format. > * Works across the workflow Not really a reason to include jpeg xl in the browser unless it actually is being widely used across workflows. Actually, this is something of a negative considering the resulting complexity of the codec and image format and that it muddles the distinction between the authoring and published form of an image. There are negatives too, so it’s not enough to be a little better for some cases..codecs are attack vectors. An all-new complex codec is an all-new broad attack surface. And, of course, it’s yet another feature to test and maintain, which costs time and necessarily pulls focus away from other things.

Avamander 4y ago
> Obviously, jpeg has this. I know it is supposed to be a 20% reduction in size, but that is a relatively small incremental improvement. Let's not forget that a 20% reduction across the entire internet is very significant. > jpeg also has this, and it’s a niche feature these days. Because we can't rely on it, I'd suspect? > png covers this Without covering the rest. > Not really a reason to include jpeg xl in the browser unless it actually is being widely used across workflows. This line of thinking will inevitably lead to a chicken-and-egg problem. Just like with EdDSA certificates and for example H/2 PUSH (support of which got deprecated basically the same time some frameworks just added support). I think the web doesn't move as fast as Google thinks or hopes it does, and it has and will make people reluctant on adopting next new features.
- simias 4y ago
  I think progressive jpeg works just fine, I recall it being quite popular in the early days of the internet when loading a large image could take a long time on landlines. You'd get a blurry preview that would incrementally become more detailed. I agree that it's niche these days because typically modern connection speeds mean that it's a waste of resources to iterate on the picture instead of loading it at once. Even on mobile networks the issues are connection reliability and latency, once the image starts pouring in it'll likely come in its entirety quite quickly. If you load images large enough that it becomes a real issue you would generally (in my experience) just have a smaller independent thumbnail/preview image you'll display while the large version is loading. That usually gives you more control on how things will look and avoid having a blurry mess on the user's screen.
  - JyrkiAlakuijala 4y ago
    I don't think that's accurate. Progressive JPEG has been the biggest winner in the image formats during the last 10 years. It grew from pretty much nothing to about 25 % of all JPEGs today. Much of this is powered by mozjpeg creating progressive jpegs by default. Chrome and other render them progressive, with recent (2019–21) improvements in quality. While first round or two of updates can be noticeable, the last 40–55% of loading is usually impossible to notice as a change.
    - simias 4y ago
      Interesting! That may be why I never noticed it. Thank you for the correction which unfortunately few people will see...
- dehrmann 4y ago
  > Let's not forget that a 20% reduction across the entire internet is very significant. In 2003. Now that we have streaming video, it's pretty minor.
  - jonsneyers 4y ago
supermatt 4y ago
PNG quality AND progressive decoding. AFAIK there is no other supported codec offering this.
- niutech 4y ago
  PNGs and GIFs can be interlaced, which is similar to progressive decoding.
  - supermatt 4y ago
    Not really similar. 10% of an interlaced image is effectively a bunch of horizontal lines. 10% of a progressive image is usually high enough fidelity to present the image in full colour - even less if you are happy with greyscale.