Photos app adds compression

AWS · October 8, 2012

I noticed that when I watch a photo using the Metro Photos app, there is a compression applied to the photo that degrades the image quality. When I watch the very same

photo using the Windows Picture Viewer, no compression is added and the image quality is not decreased. See the image below left is the image seen in Windows Photo Viewer and right as seen in the Photos app. Is this normal behavior? Is there a way to turn

off the compression that the Photos app adds? Because it is starting to become very annoying.

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Some further explanation:

I don't think that the Photo app is only sharpening the image (and enhancing the global contrast perhaps). I definitely see some compression (I'm quite sure it's not

just that the already available compression is sharpened, but that additional compression is added as well). To make a clearer comparison, I increased the contrast in both images. You can then very clearly see that additional compression is added (the fine®

structures in the left image (especially in the sky) are replaced by more blocky structures in the right image, and also notice the compression block at the right of the dark triangular shape in the bottom half of the image). So it's not just sharpening compression

artifacts that were already present.

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In these examples I only showed a particular cropped section of the entire photo. Overall, when I compare the entire photo using the Windows Photo Viewer and the Photos app, the

image quality of the Photos app is worse it is duller and not as sharp as the Windows Photo viewer. So whatever 'post processing' steps the Photos app is applying, they are certainly not improving the perceived quality, but definitely degrading the image

quality compared to the Windows Photo Viewer.