How Your Smartphone Saves Photos

Smartphones have virtually replaced point-and-shoot cameras because they capture and display high-quality images. 

You probably don't give a second thought to how your smartphone saves a photo. The image quality of smartphones has become something we take for granted. For most uses, the standard way (called the default) your smartphone takes, and stores photos is excellent for point-and-shoot pictures. 

In this article, I'll explain the file format in which your Apple or Android phone saves photos and some differences between them.

Your smartphone, tablet, or computer can display almost any type of photo since most photo files are common industry standards. Let's look at each type of smartphone and how it saves the images you take.

Different file formats exist as a result of development over time in ways our technology can improve the quality of an image while keeping the sizes of image files as small as possible. Your smartphone, tablet, and computer storage space would be consumed with substantial photo files if it weren't for the ability to save photos efficiently.

Your smartphone camera saves photos by compressing them into a format that reduces their size. Photos can be huge files because of the high-quality cameras on modern smartphones, so compression saves storage space and makes it faster to send and receive a smaller compressed file over the internet. 

So, let's learn a little about file compression. 

Compression: Lossy and Lossless

Some terms that will help you understand image files are compression. "lossy," and lossless. Compression means making a file smaller. Photos use two types of compression: lossless and lossy.

Lossy compression means some data is removed to make the file smaller. Lossy compression reduces a file's size by removing data considered "less noticeable." Because our eyes and brains will interpret colors and details in photos and images, it's possible to reduce the number of colors and details in an image and make it appear high-quality. 

An image saved as a lossy compressed file type loses some data. There are several lossy compression file types. Some produce a higher-quality image than others; you'll learn about them below. You may never notice that the photo had some data removed since it could still be a high-quality image displayed on your smartphone or computer screen.

"Lossless" refers to data compression in which the original data can be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data. When an image is saved in a lossless format, all the image information (pixels, color data, etc.) is preserved exactly as it was in the original file. 

Key points about lossless compression:

• Opening, editing, and saving an image with lossless compression maintains its original quality without degradation. Lossless file types are excellent for editing with graphics or photo editing software.
• Typically, lossless files are significantly larger than lossy files because they retain all the original data. So, there is a trade-off for maintaining the high quality of the image at the expense of the file size. 
• Lossless formats are ideal for situations where image quality is paramount, such as in digital art, medical imaging, scientific research, or any application where it is essential to preserve the exact original data.
• Lossless compression is essential when you need to preserve an image's original quality and details without any loss due to compression at the cost of larger file sizes than lossy compression.

Now, let's see what files are used by smartphones.

iPhones

HEIF (High-Efficiency Image Format):

HEIF, introduced with iOS 11 in 2017, is the default file format for iPhone and iPad photos. It uses compression but with higher quality than JPEG. HEIC provides higher-quality images with smaller file sizes. It supports advanced features with four times the color range of JPEG files. 

HEIF can be lossless but uses lossy compression on iPhones to achieve smaller file sizes. However, the quality loss is less noticeable than JPEG due to its more efficient compression algorithm.

Android 

The situation is slightly more varied on Android, depending on the manufacturer and camera app. Samsung smartphones use the JPEG format as the default setting to save photos:

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group):

Android devices, including Samsung, widely use JPEG for its compatibility and balance between image quality and file size. It is a lossy format. JPEG is not lossless. It compresses images by reducing details that are not easily noticeable to the human eye and offers a range of variable file compressions. Less compression means a higher quality image and is generally used on smartphone cameras.

JPEG is also a widely used web and social media format for sharing images. It's compatible with virtually all devices and platforms. 

NOTE: Samsung and most newer Android smartphones have a camera setting that allows you to save photos in HEIC format for a higher quality image than JPEG. 

Some other formats

While HEIC and JPEG are the most common ways your smartphone uses to save photos, some others may be used. Here's a quick explanation of them.

WebP:

Some Android devices and apps might use WebP (developed by Google), which is designed for efficient compression of lossless and lossy images. It's suitable for web use and supports features like animation and transparency. Depending on camera and device settings, WebP can be both lossy and lossless.

Lossless File Types

RAW and DNG

iPhones and some Android devices can shoot in RAW or DNG with a setting change in the camera. These formats are lossless and contain unprocessed sensor data, offering more flexibility in post-processing. RAW and DNG file types are much larger than compressed file formats like HEIC and JPEG and use more storage, so they are not typically used for everyday photos. However, RAW and DNG are excellent formats for editing with applications like Adobe Photoshop since all the image data is in the file.

PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

It is sometimes used for screenshots or specific camera modes due to its lossless compression and support for transparency. Transparency allows images to be used on a background and for the background to be visible. PNG files are commonly used in graphic design because of the transparency and lossless compression that preserves the image data. 

Wrap-up

Smartphones have made it easier to always have a camera with us. Each year's new models of smartphones bring higher-quality camera lenses and improvements in photo software that make taking high-quality photos easy and as simple as tapping a button. 

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