Microsoft takes on jpeg with new HD Photo format

By Simon Aughton

Posted on 8 Mar 2007 at 10:28

Microsoft has introduced a new file format for digital images that promises higher image quality and greater preservation of data in compressed images.

HD Photo - the new name for Windows Media Photo - has been developed to compress images with up to twice the efficiency of jpeg but with with fewer artefacts. The result, Microsoft says, is higher-quality images that are half the file size of the corresponding jpeg.

The format also supports lossless compression, preserving original image content, that can retain the full dynamic range and colour gamut data from a camera's sensor. In addition, adjustments to colour balance and exposure settings do not discard data but are save as metadata, making it easier to undo changes at a later date.

'With HD Photo, we're taking a new approach to creating and editing photos that simply isn't available to photographers with today's formats,' said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the Consumer Media Technology Group at Microsoft. 'HD Photo fully preserves the original image fidelity with high dynamic range while still allowing for significant improvement in compression size.'

Microsoft plans to release free HD Photo plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop CS 2 and CS 3 that will provide support for the reading and writing of the format. The plug-ins, for Windows XP and Vista and Mac OS X, are scheduled to be available in approximately 60 days, with a beta of the Windows version due to be released today.

An HD Photo Device Porting Kit is already available for adding HD Photo support to devices and other software platforms.

Microsoft has submitted HD Photo for approval as a standard.