Apple never reveals all the features of its new iPhones during the presentation. As the days go by, the iOS 18 code shows more data about the new iPhone 16 until the first shipped devices are available to verify if all this information is true. In fact, the iOS 18 code confirmed that The iPhone 16 Pro will support JPEG-XL format, a format created to replace older image formats such as JPEG, PNG or GIF that offers much higher efficiency and visual quality, especially in high-resolution content, increasing compression efficiency.
JPEG-XL on iPhone 16 Pro: More efficient and better quality
In 2017, Apple switched directly from JPG to HEIC as the default image format. Since then, HEIC has been with us in our daily lives. Remember that one of the reasons for this change is that it was one of the possible substitutes for JPG because he succeeded Double the quality in half the space. However, there are other image formats that are growing in popularity today and Apple needs to stay ahead of the curve.
The iOS 18 code shows that the iPhone 16 Pro will support JPEG-XL, an image format with high compression efficiency capable of reducing file size without sacrificing visual quality. According to the data offered by the creators, the size can be reduced between 30 and 50% compared to other formats. In addition, it is compatible with lossless and lossy images depending on needs, making it a very versatile format.
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In contrast, JPEG-XL has upward or backward compatibility. This means that although it is a new format, it maintains compatibility with traditional formats, facilitating its conversion to JPEG without loss of quality. And indeed, if we talk about its advantages, we must also talk about high image quality since this format was born to support high 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 like 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 main Differences between HEIC and JPEG-XL formats:
| Functionality | HERE | 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) |
| Image quality | HDR support, higher color depth than JPEG | HDR support, wide color gamut and up to 32 bits per channel |
| Special Features | Supports image sequences, transparency, live photos | Supports animations, transparency, quality/resolution scalability |
| Decoding performance | Effective, but depends on hardware supporting HEVC | Fast and efficient decoding without specific hardware |
| Backward compatibility | Not backwards compatible with JPEG | Backwards compatible with JPEG, allows conversion without loss of quality |
| Main use | Predominant on 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 in the decoder part, facilitating adoption |
| Support for transparency | Yeah | Yes, with better performance and scalability |
| Compatibility | Mainly on Apple devices (iOS/macOS), limited support outside | Broad compatibility planned, backwards compatible with JPEG |
