There are more efficient formats like JPEG-XL, HEIF and WebP. If you convert the RAW -> JPEG -> WebP you are losing more quality. I think iPhone uses HEIF format.

Related https://lemm.ee/post/2052205

  • huojtkeg@lemmy.worldOP
    0·
    1 year ago

    All 3 formats I mentioned are free to use and there are free and open source libraries to do the conversion.

    • caesar_salad83@lemmy.world
      01·
      1 year ago

      Open source libraries doesn’t mean it’s free.

      Firstly, even open source can have commercial licensing and can be free only for non-commercial use.

      Secondly, the process of producing an image from the sensor isn’t a straight forward process, the compression and containerization is only one part. In order to get the final picture all sort of processing is needed, all needs to be tweaked and integrated to work together. dropping some rando library (even if compatible with the hardware) in the middle of that isn’t some plug and play affair.

      Lastly, while a format or a standard is free to use, the algorithms and code can be subject to patents and additional licenses. In the case of HEIF, as I understand it, it’s just a container format. it is based HVEC, and that has a long list of patents behind it.

      To quote this article

      If there’s one major downside to both HEVC and HEIF, it’s that they’re covered by patents that may need to be licensed for use in various apps and services. While this was also the case for the h.264 codec, the HEVC codecs cost more. And per usual in the tech world, the needs served by HEVC and HEIF are also covered by other, competing standards, many of them freely available.