Xref: utzoo comp.graphics:15930 alt.graphics.pixutils:707 Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!amdcad!weitek!pyramid!unify!Unify.com!raveling From: raveling@Unify.com (Paul Raveling) Newsgroups: comp.graphics,alt.graphics.pixutils Subject: Image file format poll results Message-ID: <1991Feb12.120203@Unify.com> Date: 12 Feb 91 20:02:03 GMT Sender: news@Unify.Com (news admin) Reply-To: raveling@Unify.com (Paul Raveling) Organization: Unify Corporation, Sacramento, CA, USA Lines: 224 With 108 responses, the results are in for the poll on image file formats. It shows 99 different formats in use, with GIF by far the most popular. Actually it's much more than 99: Many summarized as a single format have different "subformats", such as PBM, PGM and PPM in the PBMPLUS set, and monochrome, color mapped, and 24-bit RGB in many others such as Sun rasterfiles. Beyond the counts that follow, here are some observations based on comments in the responses: -- Most respondents use several formats because they have to in order to import and export images, but would prefer to use only one format. .. The PBM/PGM/PPM (PBMPLUS) formats are particularly popular because they're used by the PBMPLUS package for converting between other image formats. They're often, if not usually, used for intermediate files rather than as a "source or destination" format. -- Many if not most respondents are unhappy to varying degrees with the formats they [have to] use. -- Popularity often depends a lot how long a given format has been around and what platforms support it. -- The main (frequently unsatisfied) needs expressed are for simplicity, capability, and compression. -- The group looking for simplicity in the file format seems to be the largest. Those looking for capability, such as as gamma correction data, are present in lesser numbers but are still a strong contingent. Almost everyone wants good data compression. Many want to use image formats supported well on PC's. .. At least one format, TIFF, has gets opposing reviews from opposite sides: Some looking for capability think it's great, some looking for simplicity don't like it. .. Utah RLE is another preferred format for those looking for capability. .. GIF89a is prone to "too complex" opinions, and has only rare use at present. Essentially all of the respondents using GIF are using GIF87a. -- The number of responses listing file formats they'd like to use was fairly small, but most of the interest went to JPEG, sometimes with phrasing such as "Something with better compression, mature JPEG possibly". ** A couple conclusions (IMHO): .. We need to define some genuine "ultimate" standards. It should now be feasible to define a standard for a simple image file format. It's a bit early to define a "full capability" format, but it's not too early to begin seriously working toward defining one. .. Standards should be chosen on the basis of their technical and functional merit, rather than pure popularity. Any emerging standard will need support for importing a large number of old image formats. .. Most popular formats, especially GIF87a, are inappropriate to adopt as is for a standard. .. For lossless data compression, I agree with those who like to treat this as a separate issue: Define the image file format without compression, then compress the entire file via something such as the Unix "compress" utility. .. For maximum data compression, with some loss allowed, it may be necessary to embed compression in the file format. The only serious candidate for compression with loss allowed at present is JPEG, and it's too early to judge its success. .. If ultimate standards are to be accepted, it will be necessary to have them supported by virtually all major vendors of workstations, PC's, and other image-using systems. Are any established consortiums prepared to participate in this? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Results follow below, in descending order by frequency of reported use and by alphabetic order for each frequency. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File formats in use: 56 GIF 32 PBM/PGM/PPM (PBMPLUS) 32 TIFF 28 Sun rasterfile 25 Homebrew (see note at end of list) 16 Utah RLE 15 Postscript (including Encapsulated Postscript) 13 XBM (X11R4 bitmap) 11 XWD 10 Targa (TGA) 9 FITS 9 SGI (Silicon Graphics format[s?]) 7 IFF (Amiga) 7 PICT 7 PICT2 6 PCX (Windows) 5 BMP (Windows) 4 FBM 4 GEM (.IMG) 4 HDF 4 HIPS 3 ILBM (Amiga) 3 viff 3 MacPaint 3 MTV "PIC" 2 BRL-CAD (.pix, .bw formats) 2 Group 3 FAX 2 JPEG 2 Pixar (pic) 2 "Various medical formats" 2 Xim 1 Acorn RISC OS Sprite 1 AIM/Wild Vision Hawk V9 512x256y 12 bit colour 1 AIM/Wild Vision Hawk V10 files 256x256y256g 1 Analyze (Mayo Clinic) 1 Apollo GPR images 1 ArVis 15 bit HIP.+LOP. sprites 1 Atari Spectrum 512 1 AVS Image and volume 1 big 1 CCIR 601 PAL/NTSC image YUV encoded 1 CDF 1 CGM 1 CT2T 1 CUT (DrHalo) 1 CVL (Computer Vision Lab, University of Maryland) 1 DDES 1 Degas PI1, PI2, PI3 images 1 dem 1 dlg 1 DVI (Imagen) 1 elas 1 Electronic Art's IFF ILBM pictures 1 EPS 1 FaceSaver 1 flux (apE Ohio) 1 GE Signa 1 Giffer 1 GL 1 Group 4 FAX 1 HPGL 1 IFF (Sun) 1 Img (Img Software Set) 1 img (Interleaf) 1 Irlam Instruments 200dpi 24bpp colour scanner 1 IRAF 1 IT8.4 1 LLVS 1 MacDraw 1 MIDAS 1 MILLIPEDE PRISMA 768x576y 8 bit colour images 1 PC EGA .DSP images 640x350y16c 1 .PIC 1 PICIO 1 Pineapple 16 bit per pixel image 1 ProArtisan compressed pictures 640x256y256c 1 QRT 24 bit .raw images 1 RIFF 1 RIX Softworks ColoRIX 8 bit per pixel files 1 RT 24 bit run length coded image. files 1 SCODL 1 SDS 1 Translator Clear format 1 System 600 (International Imaging Systems) 1 TimeStep satellite image 800x800y256g 1 TimeStep satellite image 128x256y256g & RGB separations 1 Universal Plane Format (extended LLVS) 1 University of North Carolina 1 UNIX rle format [Utah?] 1 Versatek CMYK rasterfile 1 VIS 1 Vitec 1 Watford digitiser pictures 512x256y64g & RGB separations 1 Wavefront raster file 1 WordPerfect WPG 1 xfig 1 Xgiff 1 ZSoft .PCX files [same as "Windows" .PCX files?] 1 4sight Notes: "Homebrew" includes 15 variants of raw raster data, 9 "own" formats that apparently are more elaborate, and 1 modified Sun rasterfile format File formats that respondents Would like to use or are considering using: 9 JPEG (Often "Something with better compression, mature JPEG possibly") 2 FITS 2 GIF 1 Amiga SHAM 1 Dynamic Hi-res 1 HDF 1 MPEG 1 TIFF ------------------ Paul Raveling Raveling@Unify.com