As photographers, one of the first things we learn is that we should always shoot in RAW. This gives us the most flexibility and data to work with in editing, the drawback being that the file size is large which has become even larger over the years. What if you had all the flexibility of a raw file at ten percent of the file size?
In this video, I show you how efficient JPEG XL can be in business workflows. Keep in mind that just because it has “JPEG” in the name doesn’t mean it’s the same as the JPEG format we’ve been using for over 30 years. It’s much more advanced, supporting 32-bit color depth, HDR, wide color gamut and a myriad of other features. Adobe introduced the ability to use JPEG XL in their DNG files last year, and you’ve probably been using it without even knowing it!
From 2023, whenever you merge an image into Panorama or HDR, it is now using JPEG XL – which you may have noticed as the file size has become significantly smaller without any data loss. This same pipeline can be used to convert your raw images to lossy DNG files giving you the desired flexibility in editing with huge file savings.
In the video, I show you an example by zooming in to a maximum of 1,600% for extreme pixel peeping. I discuss the downsides of converting your raw images this way and encourage you to try it yourself by giving you guidance on how to do it yourself. You probably won’t be able to see the difference in quality through example images on YouTube or the web, like here on Fstoppers. You really should try it yourself, because the results are incredibly impressive!
