Rather rarely, Apple and Google have found common ground on the subject of sharing HDR photos. From now on, they will both encode this type of image in the same way, which will mean better quality and more color respect when sharing an HDR photo between iOS, macOS and Android.
A good initiative
Apple and Google have obviously just agreed on the HDR photo format. Until now, this misunderstanding caused problems when sharing an HDR photo from an iPhone to an Android smartphone and vice versa. An inevitable and above all ridiculous loss of quality in 2024.
As indicated by Android Authorityit’s now ancient history. The two have agreed on the common use of the ISO 21496-1 standard, allowing identical metadata management and therefore almost perfect sharing of HDR photos between iOS, macOS and Android devices.
The ISO 21496-1 standard should eventually become a universal format over time. It is in this sense that it was created and this agreement between the two giants only confirms things. Sharing without loss of quality, at least depending on the platform. Indeed, the applications through which the transfer of the HDR photo operates must also support this standard.
On the Apple side, this is the case for iMessage And Pictures. Same for Android with its native application for messages and its application Pictures. Needless to say, it is essential to be on a recent system version. The list of compatible third-party applications will expand over time.
