What is the state-of-art in lossy image compression?
compression, image
Solution
Some of the formats that are frequently discussed as possible JPEG successors are:
JPEG XR (aka HD Photo, Windows Media Photo). According to a study the Graphics and Media Lab at Moscow State University (MSU) image quality is comparable to JPEG2000 and significantly better than JPEG, compression efficiency is comparable to JPEG-2000
WebP is already tested in the wild on Google properties mainly, where the format is served to Chrome users exclusively (if you connect with a different browser, you get png or jpg images instead). It's very web-oriented
HEVC-MSP. In a study of Mozilla Corporation (oct 2013) HEVC-MSP performed best in most tests, and in the tests that it was not best, it came in second to the original JPEG format (but the study only looked at the image compression efficiency and not at other metrics and data that matters: feature sets, performance during run-rime, licensing...)
Jpeg 2000. The most computational intensive to encode/decode. Compared with the regular JPEG format, it offers advantages such as support for higher bit depths, more advanced compression and a lossless compression option. It is the standard comparison term for the others but it is a bit "slow in acceptance".
Anyway JPEG encoders haven't really reached their full compression potential after 20+ years. Even within the constraints of strong compatibility requirements, there are projects (e.g. Mozilla mozjpeg Project or Google Guetzli) that can produce smaller JPG files without sacrificing quality.
Problem
What are the state-of-art algorithms when it comes to compressing digital images (say for instance color photos, maybe 800x480 pixels)?