Apple never reveals all the Features of their new iPhones at the launch event. As the days go by, the iOS 18 code shows more data about the new iPhone 16 until the first devices are available to be shipped to check if all that information is true. In fact, the iOS 18 code has confirmed that The iPhone 16 Pro will support the JPEG-XL format, a format created to replace older image formats such as JPEG, PNG or GIF that offers much greater efficiency and visual quality, especially in high-resolution content, increasing compression efficiency.
JPEG-XL on iPhone 16 Pro: more efficient and higher quality
In 2017 Apple jumped directly from JPG to HEIC as the default image format. Since then, the HEIC format has been with us day after day. Remember that one of the reasons for the change is that it was one of the Possible substitutes for JPG because I managed twice the quality in half the space. However, there are other image formats that are growing more and more nowadays and Apple has to stay at the forefront.
iOS 18 code shows that the iPhone 16 Pro will support JPEG-XL, un Image format with a high compression efficiency capable of reducing the file size without sacrificing visual quality. According to the data offered by the creators, the size can be reduced by 30 to 50% compared to other formats. In addition, it is compatible with lossless and lossy images depending on the needs, making it a very versatile format.
On the other hand, JPEG-XL has backward compatibility or backward compatibility. This means that even though it is a new format, it maintains compatibility with traditional formats, making it easy to convert to JPEG without loss of quality. And, indeed, if we talk about its advantages we also have to talk about high image quality since this format was born to support wide dynamic range (HDR) images with very high resolutions, up to 32 bits per color.
Finally, other features of JPEG-XL are its higher decoding performance, even on low-performance devices, support for transparency such as PNG, a greater amount of metadata in each image and the scalability, which allows you to have the same image in different qualities and resolutions without having to generate multiple files.
Below we leave you a table with the principales Differences between HEIC and JPEG-XL formats:
| Feature | HEIC | jpeg xl |
|---|---|---|
| Compression efficiency | High efficiency, based on HEVC (up to 50% less than JPEG) | Higher compression than HEIC and JPEG (30-50% more efficient than JPEG) |
| Picture quality | Support for HDR, higher color depth than JPEG | Support for HDR, wide color gamut and up to 32 bits per channel |
| Special Features | Supports image sequences, transparency, live photos | Supports animations, transparency, scalability in quality/resolution |
| Decoding Performance | Efficient, but relies on HEVC-capable hardware | Fast and efficient decoding without the need for specific hardware |
| Backward compatibility | Not backward compatible with JPEG | Backwards compatible with JPEG, allows conversion without loss of quality |
| Main Use | Predominant in Apple devices | Designed to replace multiple formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF), future-oriented |
| Licenses and Patents | Based on HEVC, subject to licenses and patents | Patent-free on the decoder side, facilitating adoption |
| Support for Transparency | Yes | Yes, with better performance and scalability |
| Compatibility | Mainly on Apple devices (iOS/macOS), limited support outside | Wide compatibility planned, backward compatible with JPEG |