Image Representation: Coding and Formats
Henri Maître · 2017
The wide range of formats used to archive and to display images constitutes an obstacle to their use by the general public. The variety and complexity of available image formats are essentially due to the varying importance of different property types for different groups of users, requiring the inclusion of varying amounts of detail in the metadata. The transformation of images from native format to a more widespread format occurs during the transfer of the image from the camera memory to a computer. The quality of the signal captured by a camera is preserved using the native RAW format. Metadata is crucial in allowing optimal usage of digital images, and the chapter considers two file types used for this purpose: TIFF/EP and Exif files. The lossless coding aspect of TIFF/EP is notably compatible with the DNG format, proposed by Adobe but available in open access, and accompanied by public processing libraries.