Bitrot resistance of next-generation image formats

guest · Dec 6, 2021

November 26, 2021

I’ve compared two next-generation image formats, AVIF and JPEG XL (JXL), to see which best handles a random single corrupted bit. A meaningless exercise? Possibly.

What happens when a single bit gets corrupted in an image file you cherish? The results can range from absolutely nothing to an imperceptible visual change to a complete loss of the image.
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Whether due to mechanical failure or transmission interference like cosmic radiation: bitrot happens. A rotted bit, or flipped bit, is when one bit of RAM or persistent storage unintentionally flips its state between zero and one. You can only do so much to protect your system from random failure. Multiple backups and data verification is the only proven strategy to protect against it.
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However, the next-generation image formats pack data much more densely than in the legacy image formats. There’s isn’t just less redundancy, but every single bit means more to the complete image. This means the effects of bitrot produce a much greater loss of visual fidelity and decodes to more abstract results.

So, should you worry about bitrot? Yes and no. There’s no doubt it happens, but there’s no large-scale empirical data on how frequently it happens on modern hardware.
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Bitrot resistance of next-generation image formats

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