[jpap]

> This format doesn't really blaze new ground (EDIT: it does in the sense that it defines a container format to express image-y constructs like still images and sequences of images in an ISO media container, but see my other comment that asks how this is similar but different to video [3]), but if this repackaging and the resulting code donation and political clout helps it gain traction, we still would gain a lot.

You need to think about HEIF as the container and disconnected from the codec used to compress the media content. In that sense, HEIF is a massive trailblazer. It gives us an ISO standard to describe image and mixed media consistent with existing methods (i.e. MP4) while allowing for new constructs (i.e. useful features of the future in addition to tiling, depth map, stereo, etc.) and new codecs as they are developed and adopted. HEIF is a universal forward-looking format.

Until now, almost all of the major imaging formats were tied to the codec and not terribly extensible to new use cases. While BPG is a great format in the short term (it gave us HEVC coded images around 2.5 years ago), it isn't an ideal choice for the long term when viewed as above.

[niutech]

TIFF and Exif (which JPEG is based on) are not tied to any particular codec and are extensible, so HEIF is not a game changer.

BTW: Did you know that you can embed LPCM/μ-Law PCM/ADPCM audio data in JPEG/Exif?

[jpap]

> TIFF and Exif (which JPEG is based on) are not tied to any particular codec and are extensible, so HEIF is not a game changer.

TIFF is a great format but its ability for extensibility is limited. You can't readily contain in a video track in addition to a photo, or a burst sequence that utilizes intra-frame prediction.

> BTW: Did you know that you can embed LPCM/μ-Law PCM/ADPCM audio data in JPEG/Exif?

Yes; I once owned point-and-shoot cameras that did this. The audio was pretty poor quality because they didn't employ compression and wanted to keep the file sizes small.

However you're limited to the 64k maximum JPEG marker segment size for non-image metadata; or ugly hacks like chaining segments (e.g. ICC profiles). Exif is strictly limited to being contained within 64k. How big is your audio track again? ;-)

JPEG has had its time as a wildly successful format but has also held back the imaging world from adopting a standardized way to cater for new applications; burst above, mixed media (photo + video + audio), depth maps, stereo images, alpha (that's not a hack), lossless, etc., etc. HEIF has all the key ingredients, including extensibility, to support these modern applications and grow as the universal container format for decades to come.