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HEIF file image quality vs. JPEG

j-a-x

j-a-x

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 15, 2005
1,567
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Houston, Texas
Does anybody know how HEIF compares to JPEG in terms of image quality? I know HEIF files are much smaller but i don't know much about how the compression compares to JPEG in terms of quality. If I use HEIF in iOS11 and email out jpegs to people, will they look as good as taking JPEGs to start with? Is anything lost in the HEIF to JPEG conversion?.
 
Very good question. Would need careful comparison between both formats taken on the phone. Already using it here, but not tried comparing.
 
I would have made a nice comparison but reverted back to 10.3.3 B3 due to the overall bugs in 11 b1. Might jump back in once b2 comes around and will do a comparison then.
 
TL24 said:
I would have made a nice comparison but reverted back to 10.3.3 B3 due to the overall bugs in 11 b1. Might jump back in once b2 comes around and will do a comparison then.
Click to expand...
I might do one. Does that violate my developer agreement? I was also interested in hearing from anyone who understands the technical aspects of the two compression formats who might be able to explain their strengths and weaknesses.
[doublepost=1497636206][/doublepost]I just found this:
http://nokiatech.github.io/heif/comparison.html

Look at the mountain, specifically where the mountain edge meets the horizon. The HEIF definitely looks better in this example but I'm not sure what quality settings both of these use. Still, it's impressive to see a smaller file being better quality.

download.png

HEIF

download (1).png

JPEG
 
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j-a-x said:
I might do one. Does that violate my developer agreement? I was also interested in hearing from anyone who understands the technical aspects of the two compression formats who might be able to explain their strengths and weaknesses.
[doublepost=1497636206][/doublepost]I just found this:
http://nokiatech.github.io/heif/comparison.html

Look at the mountain, specifically where the mountain edge meets the horizon. The HEIF definitely looks better in this example but I'm not sure what quality settings both of these use. Still, it's impressive to see a smaller file being better quality.

View attachment 704360
HEIF

View attachment 704361
JPEG
Click to expand...

Excellent, thanks for posting this comparison! Now I really want to jump back on the iOS 11 bandwagon LOL
 
j-a-x said:
I might do one. Does that violate my developer agreement? I was also interested in hearing from anyone who understands the technical aspects of the two compression formats who might be able to explain their strengths and weaknesses.
[doublepost=1497636206][/doublepost]I just found this:
http://nokiatech.github.io/heif/comparison.html

Look at the mountain, specifically where the mountain edge meets the horizon. The HEIF definitely looks better in this example but I'm not sure what quality settings both of these use. Still, it's impressive to see a smaller file being better quality.

View attachment 704360
HEIF

View attachment 704361
JPEG
Click to expand...
wow this is impressive
 
I converted a photo to HEIF and JPEG with various qualities, and it is quite clear that the compression from HEVC is superior to JPEG for high resolution photographs. At least subjectively. I have not done a detailed objective analysis.
Here are the photo and its variants (©2009 Keith Cooper northlight-images.co.uk)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7o04853f5krchr7/_MG_2854_HEIF-TEST.zip?dl=0

The JPEG files have file-Jxxx-y.jpg where xxx is the "percent" quality in the save setting (100 is best), and y is the bit.
For the HEIF files it is file-HCRFxx-y.heic and xx is the CRF value (0 is highest quality) from the X265 codec and y is the bit.
The original file is the 16 bit TIFF.

Maybe another photos would create different outcomes, but it was the first usable I found when searching. About the bit 8 = yuv420p and 10 = yuv420p10.
I used Apple Preview to save the JPEG so I there maybe better software which compresses better.
 
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j-a-x said:
It seems to convert to jepg by default when you share. Actually I’m not sure how to share the raw HEIF file.
Click to expand...
If you want the HEIC files, you can download them from iCloud.com. I've downloaded a few taken with my iPhone 7 on iOS 11 DP1. Sharing them to any non-iOS 11 device or non-High Sierra Mac is going to give you a JPEG.
 
jhfenton said:
If you want the HEIC files, you can download them from iCloud.com. I've downloaded a few taken with my iPhone 7 on iOS 11 DP1. Sharing them to any non-iOS 11 device or non-High Sierra Mac is going to give you a JPEG.
Click to expand...

So downloaded from the Web version of iCloud Photo Library?

I’d like to send one to s fellow iOS 11 user as a test but sadly I don’t know any.
 
j-a-x said:
So downloaded from the Web version of iCloud Photo Library?

I’d like to send one to s fellow iOS 11 user as a test but sadly I don’t know any.
Click to expand...
Yes. Downloaded from the web version of iCloud.com Photos to Windows or Mac. If you click on the download icon, it downloads them in their native HEIC format. If you Share them from web Photos, you can mail them or post them to Facebook as JPEGs, the same as from an iOS 11 device.

I haven't found any Windows or MacOS applications that can open the HEIC photos yet. But I wanted a few samples to play with.
 
jhfenton said:
Yes. Downloaded from the web version of iCloud.com Photos to Windows or Mac. If you click on the download icon, it downloads them in their native HEIC format. If you Share them from web Photos, you can mail them or post them to Facebook as JPEGs, the same as from an iOS 11 device.

I haven't found any Windows or MacOS applications that can open the HEIC photos yet. But I wanted a few samples to play with.
Click to expand...

same here, I've downloaded some pictures from my icloud, but they're HEIC, and i can't seem to find an program to open them using my works PC, we're on windows 7.
I dont want to email them every single time.
any ideas?
 
ianrip said:
same here, I've downloaded some pictures from my icloud, but they're HEIC, and i can't seem to find an program to open them using my works PC, we're on windows 7.
I dont want to email them every single time.
any ideas?
Click to expand...
No. Until applications are updated to open them, you'll have to rely on Apple's internal sharing routines. (You can right-click on the displayed photo in web iCloud and save it to your computer as a PNG, because iCloud.com displays the photos to web browsers as a PNG. But I prefer the email routine to that.)
 
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jhfenton said:
No. Until applications are updated to open them, you'll have to rely on Apple's internal sharing routines. (You can right-click on the displayed photo in web iCloud and save it to your computer as a PNG, because iCloud.com displays the photos to web browsers as a PNG. But I prefer the email routine to that.)
Click to expand...

I’ve noticed that all iOS apps can open HEIFs. I’m assuming that the NSImage object definition has been updated to support HEIF so apps know how to open them natively without being recompiled. Either that or the OS knows to convert to JPEG on the fly when necessary. Either way it’s pretty cool.
 
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