I'd like to aggressively compress some scientific 16-bit grayscale image files, but without reducing the dynamic range. Is such a thing possible?
I understand that JPEG format uses lossy, and therefore tunably aggressive, compression, but only supports 8-bits per color channel.
PNG format supports 16-bit grayscale images, but only supports lossless compression, which limits the file compression ratio.
TIFF format also supports 16-bit grayscale images, but as far as I am aware, supports no standard lossy compression of 16-bit images.
Answer
It sounds like what you're looking for is JPEG2000. It has a range of options including a 16-bit lossy compression and better compression ratios than JPEG. It hasn't been as widely adopted as hoped (for a host of reasons) and may have some patent issues that might make it difficult to use in certain situations but otherwise it fits your needs.
Personally if I were in your position I'd say storage is cheap and use PNG which is a properly defined and free standard.
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