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Is this a good use of XML: XML-formatted images?

Hi Folks,

JPEG/JFIF, GIF, PNG, BMP are, as you know, binary data formats for images.

Why are there no XML-formatted images? Is XML not a good format for images? If it’s not, why not? I’ll speculate: perhaps the reason is simply that XML is too verbose. Is that the reason? Are there other reasons?

Below is a fictitious XML-formatted image. It has a metadata section with XML elements describing the image. After that is an image section containing the raw pixel (RGB) data.

As I look at this fictitious XML-formatted image, I tend to think that XML is not a good fit. Here’s why: Each pixel element contains text that is meaningless on its own. For example, what does <red>100</red> mean? Meaning – the image -- is spread over a large collection of elements. Perhaps, when meaning is spread widely and thinly, it is harder for applications to find meaning in XML than in binary?

Thoughts?

/Roger

<My-New-Image-Format>
   
<Metadata>
       
<make>Canon</make>
       
<model>Canon EOS 60D</model>
       
<exposure>1/100</exposure>
       
<aperture>4.5</aperture>
       
<focal-length>40.0 mm</focal-length>
        ...
   
</Metadata>
   
<Image>
       
<Row>
           
<Pixel>
               
<Red>100</Red>
               
<Green>0</Green>
               
<Blue>0</Blue>
           
</Pixel>
           
<Pixel>
               
<Red>100</Red>
               
<Green>0</Green>
               
<Blue>0</Blue>
           
</Pixel>
            ...
       
</Row>
        ...
   
</Image>
</My-New-Image-Format>

 



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