Microsoft Takes on the JPEG

profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
edited May 2006 in Science & Tech
Interesting news on the digital image front:
Microsoft's new Windows Media Photo image format specification is finally seeing the light of day. The software company began lobbying for WMPhoto to replace the JPEG image format this week at WindowsHEC in Seattle. Microsoft has taken the image compression spec out of development and has labeled it as a final release. There is also word that MS is keeping the standard totally free, but licensing details are still being worked out.

According to BetaNews, a Microsoft spokesperson claims that WMPhoto will offer the same or better image quality as JPEG at half the file size. That's twice the compression (12:1 versus the standard 6:1 of JPEG) with the same or better quality.
More Info: Windows Media Photo Specification

Source: Wired

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    I'd say it's about time we got a brand new compressed image format; GIF and JPEG are nice, but they're really showing their age. PNG is nice, but often not small enough to be reasonably-sized. I am, however, leary of MS being in charge of said new format.
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    So I wonder if there will be a video variant like JPEG-MPEG
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Thrax's thoughts are exactly mine. We shall have to see where this goes :)
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