



Internet Engineering Task Force                                  J. Zern
Internet-Draft                                              P. Massimino
Intended status: Informational                             J. Alakuijala
Expires: 15 June 2023                                         Google LLC
                                                        12 December 2022


                           WebP Image Format
                           draft-zern-webp-12

Abstract

   This document defines the WebP image format and registers a media
   type supporting its use.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 15 June 2023.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2022 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.






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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  WebP Container Specification  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  Terminology & Basics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.3.  RIFF File Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.4.  WebP File Header  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     2.5.  Simple File Format (Lossy)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     2.6.  Simple File Format (Lossless) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     2.7.  Extended File Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
       2.7.1.  Chunks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
         2.7.1.1.  Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
         2.7.1.2.  Alpha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
         2.7.1.3.  Bitstream (VP8/VP8L)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
         2.7.1.4.  Color Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
         2.7.1.5.  Metadata  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
         2.7.1.6.  Unknown Chunks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
       2.7.2.  Assembling the Canvas From Frames . . . . . . . . . .  19
       2.7.3.  Example File Layouts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
   3.  Specification for WebP Lossless Bitstream . . . . . . . . . .  21
     3.1.  Abstract  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
     3.2.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     3.3.  Nomenclature  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     3.4.  RIFF Header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
     3.5.  Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
       3.5.1.  Predictor Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
       3.5.2.  Color Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
       3.5.3.  Subtract Green Transform  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
       3.5.4.  Color Indexing Transform  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
     3.6.  Image Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
       3.6.1.  Roles of Image Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
       3.6.2.  Encoding of Image Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
         3.6.2.1.  Prefix Coded Literals . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
         3.6.2.2.  LZ77 Backward Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
         3.6.2.3.  Color Cache Coding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  37
     3.7.  Entropy Code  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
       3.7.1.  Overview  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
       3.7.2.  Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
         3.7.2.1.  Decoding and Building the Prefix Codes  . . . . .  39
         3.7.2.2.  Decoding of Meta Prefix Codes . . . . . . . . . .  41
         3.7.2.3.  Decoding Entropy-coded Image Data . . . . . . . .  43
     3.8.  Overall Structure of the Format . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
       3.8.1.  Basic Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
       3.8.2.  Structure of Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
       3.8.3.  Structure of the Image Data . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45
   5.  Interoperability Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46



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   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
     6.1.  The 'image/webp' Media Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
       6.1.1.  Registration Details  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  49
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  50

1.  Introduction

   WebP is a Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) [RIFF-spec] based
   image file format (Section 2) which supports lossless and lossy
   compression as well as alpha (transparency) and animation.  It covers
   use cases similar to JPEG [JPEG-spec], PNG [RFC2083] and the Graphics
   Interchange Format (GIF) [GIF-spec].

   WebP consists of two compression algorithms used to reduce the size
   of image pixel data, including alpha (transparency) information.
   Lossy compression is achieved using VP8 intra-frame encoding
   [RFC6386].  The lossless algorithm (Section 3) stores and restores
   the pixel values exactly, including the color values for zero alpha
   pixels.  The format uses subresolution images, recursively embedded
   into the format itself, for storing statistical data about the
   images, such as the used entropy codes, spatial predictors, color
   space conversion, and color table.  [LZ77], prefix coding [Huffman],
   and a color cache are used for compression of the bulk data.

2.  WebP Container Specification

   Note this section is based on the documentation in the libwebp source
   repository [webp-riff-src].

2.1.  Introduction

   WebP is an image format that uses either (i) the VP8 intra-frame
   encoding [RFC6386] to compress image data in a lossy way, or (ii) the
   WebP lossless encoding (Section 3).  These encoding schemes should
   make it more efficient than currently used formats.  It is optimized
   for fast image transfer over the network (e.g., for websites).  The
   WebP format has feature parity (color profile, metadata, animation,
   etc.) with other formats as well.  This section describes the
   structure of a WebP file.

   The WebP container (i.e., RIFF container for WebP) allows feature
   support over and above the basic use case of WebP (i.e., a file
   containing a single image encoded as a VP8 key frame).  The WebP
   container provides additional support for:




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   *  Lossless compression.  An image can be losslessly compressed,
      using the WebP Lossless Format.

   *  Metadata.  An image may have metadata stored in [Exif] or [XMP]
      formats.

   *  Transparency.  An image may have transparency, i.e., an alpha
      channel.

   *  Color Profile.  An image may have an embedded ICC profile [ICC].

   *  Animation.  An image may have multiple frames with pauses between
      them, making it an animation.

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

   Bit numbering in chunk diagrams starts at 0 for the most significant
   bit ('MSB 0') as described in [RFC1166].

2.2.  Terminology & Basics

   A WebP file contains either a still image (i.e., an encoded matrix of
   pixels) or an animation (Section 2.7.1.1).  Optionally, it can also
   contain transparency information, color profile and metadata.  In
   case we need to refer only to the matrix of pixels, we will call it
   the _canvas_ of the image.

   Below are additional terms used throughout this section:

   Reader/Writer
           Code that reads WebP files is referred to as a _reader_,
           while code that writes them is referred to as a _writer_.

   uint16 
           A 16-bit, little-endian, unsigned integer.

   uint24 
           A 24-bit, little-endian, unsigned integer.

   uint32 
           A 32-bit, little-endian, unsigned integer.






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   FourCC 
           A FourCC (four-character code) is a uint32 created by
           concatenating four ASCII characters in little-endian order.
           This means 'aaaa' (0x61616161) and 'AAAA' (0x41414141) are
           treated as different FourCCs.

   1-based
           An unsigned integer field storing values offset by -1. e.g.,
           Such a field would store value _25_ as _24_.

   ChunkHeader('ABCD')
           This is used to describe the _FourCC_ and _Chunk Size_ header
           of individual chunks, where 'ABCD' is the FourCC for the
           chunk.  This element's size is 8 bytes.

2.3.  RIFF File Format

   The WebP file format is based on the RIFF [RIFF-spec] (Resource
   Interchange File Format) document format.

   The basic element of a RIFF file is a _chunk_. It consists of:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         Chunk FourCC                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Chunk Size                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                         Chunk Payload                         :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                       Figure 1: RIFF chunk structure

   Chunk FourCC: 32 bits
           ASCII four-character code used for chunk identification.

   Chunk Size: 32 bits (_uint32_)
           The size of the chunk in bytes, not including this field, the
           chunk identifier or padding.

   Chunk Payload: _Chunk Size_ bytes
           The data payload.  If _Chunk Size_ is odd, a single padding
           byte -- that MUST be 0 to conform with RIFF [RIFF-spec] -- is
           added.






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   Note: RIFF has a convention that all-uppercase chunk FourCCs are
   standard chunks that apply to any RIFF file format, while FourCCs
   specific to a file format are all lowercase.  WebP does not follow
   this convention.

2.4.  WebP File Header

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      'R'      |      'I'      |      'F'      |      'F'      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                           File Size                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      'W'      |      'E'      |      'B'      |      'P'      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                      Figure 2: WebP file header chunk

   'RIFF': 32 bits
           The ASCII characters 'R' 'I' 'F' 'F'.

   File Size: 32 bits (_uint32_)
           The size of the file in bytes starting at offset 8.  The
           maximum value of this field is 2^32 minus 10 bytes and thus
           the size of the whole file is at most 4GiB minus 2 bytes.

   'WEBP': 32 bits
           The ASCII characters 'W' 'E' 'B' 'P'.

   A WebP file MUST begin with a RIFF header with the FourCC 'WEBP'.
   The file size in the header is the total size of the chunks that
   follow plus 4 bytes for the 'WEBP' FourCC.  The file SHOULD NOT
   contain any data after the data specified by _File Size_.  Readers
   MAY parse such files, ignoring the trailing data.  As the size of any
   chunk is even, the size given by the RIFF header is also even.  The
   contents of individual chunks will be described in the following
   sections.

2.5.  Simple File Format (Lossy)

   This layout SHOULD be used if the image requires lossy encoding and
   does not require transparency or other advanced features provided by
   the extended format.  Files with this layout are smaller and
   supported by older software.

   Simple WebP (lossy) file format:




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    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                    WebP file header (12 bytes)                |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                          VP8 chunk                            :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                 Figure 3: Simple WebP (lossy) file format

   VP8 chunk:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('VP8 ')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                           VP8 data                            :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                            Figure 4: VP8 chunk

   VP8 data: _Chunk Size_ bytes
           VP8 bitstream data.

   Note the fourth character in the 'VP8 ' FourCC is an ASCII space
   (0x20).

   The VP8 bitstream format specification is described by [RFC6386].
   Note that the VP8 frame header contains the VP8 frame width and
   height.  That is assumed to be the width and height of the canvas.

   The VP8 specification describes how to decode the image into Y'CbCr
   format.  To convert to RGB, Rec. 601 [rec601] SHOULD be used.
   Applications MAY use another conversion method, but visual results
   may differ among decoders.

2.6.  Simple File Format (Lossless)

   Note: Older readers may not support files using the lossless format.

   This layout SHOULD be used if the image requires lossless encoding
   (with an optional transparency channel) and does not require advanced
   features provided by the extended format.




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   Simple WebP (lossless) file format:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                    WebP file header (12 bytes)                |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                          VP8L chunk                           :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                Figure 5: Simple WebP (lossless) file format

   VP8L chunk:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('VP8L')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                           VP8L data                           :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                            Figure 6: VP8L chunk

   VP8L data: _Chunk Size_ bytes
           VP8L bitstream data.

   The specification of the VP8L bitstream can be found in Section 3.
   Note that the VP8L header contains the VP8L image width and height.
   That is assumed to be the width and height of the canvas.

2.7.  Extended File Format

   Note: Older readers may not support files using the extended format.

   An extended format file consists of:

   *  A 'VP8X' chunk with information about features used in the file.

   *  An optional 'ICCP' chunk with color profile.

   *  An optional 'ANIM' chunk with animation control data.

   *  Image data.




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   *  An optional 'EXIF' chunk with Exif metadata.

   *  An optional 'XMP ' chunk with XMP metadata.

   *  An optional list of unknown chunks (Section 2.7.1.6).

   For a _still image_, the _image data_ consists of a single frame,
   which is made up of:

   *  An optional alpha subchunk (Section 2.7.1.2).

   *  A bitstream subchunk (Section 2.7.1.3).

   For an _animated image_, the _image data_ consists of multiple
   frames.  More details about frames can be found in Section 2.7.1.1.

   All chunks SHOULD be placed in the same order as listed above.  If a
   chunk appears in the wrong place, the file is invalid, but readers
   MAY parse the file, ignoring the chunks that are out of order.

   Rationale: Setting the order of chunks should allow quicker file
   parsing.  For example, if an 'ALPH' chunk does not appear in its
   required position, a decoder can choose to stop searching for it.
   The rule of ignoring late chunks should make programs that need to do
   a full search give the same results as the ones stopping early.

   Extended WebP file header:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                   WebP file header (12 bytes)                 |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('VP8X')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Rsv|I|L|E|X|A|R|                   Reserved                    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |          Canvas Width Minus One               |             ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   ...  Canvas Height Minus One    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                    Figure 7: Extended WebP file header





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   Reserved (Rsv): 2 bits
           MUST be 0.  Readers MUST ignore this field.

   ICC profile (I): 1 bit
           Set if the file contains an ICC profile.

   Alpha (L): 1 bit
           Set if any of the frames of the image contain transparency
           information ("alpha").

   Exif metadata (E): 1 bit
           Set if the file contains Exif metadata.

   XMP metadata (X): 1 bit
           Set if the file contains XMP metadata.

   Animation (A): 1 bit
           Set if this is an animated image.  Data in 'ANIM' and 'ANMF'
           chunks should be used to control the animation.

   Reserved (R): 1 bit
           MUST be 0.  Readers MUST ignore this field.

   Reserved: 24 bits
           MUST be 0.  Readers MUST ignore this field.

   Canvas Width Minus One: 24 bits
           _1-based_ width of the canvas in pixels.  The actual canvas
           width is 1 + Canvas Width Minus One

   Canvas Height Minus One: 24 bits
           _1-based_ height of the canvas in pixels.  The actual canvas
           height is 1 + Canvas Height Minus One

   The product of _Canvas Width_ and _Canvas Height_ MUST be at most
   2^32 - 1.

   Future specifications may add more fields.  Unknown fields MUST be
   ignored.

2.7.1.  Chunks

2.7.1.1.  Animation

   An animation is controlled by ANIM and ANMF chunks.

   ANIM Chunk:




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   For an animated image, this chunk contains the _global parameters_ of
   the animation.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('ANIM')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       Background Color                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |          Loop Count           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                            Figure 8: ANIM chunk

   Background Color: 32 bits (_uint32_)
           The default background color of the canvas in [Blue, Green,
           Red, Alpha] byte order.  This color MAY be used to fill the
           unused space on the canvas around the frames, as well as the
           transparent pixels of the first frame.  Background color is
           also used when disposal method is 1.

           Note:

           *  Background color MAY contain a non-opaque alpha value,
              even if the _Alpha_ flag in VP8X chunk (Section 2.7,
              Paragraph 9) is unset.

           *  Viewer applications SHOULD treat the background color
              value as a hint, and are not required to use it.

           *  The canvas is cleared at the start of each loop.  The
              background color MAY be used to achieve this.

   Loop Count: 16 bits (_uint16_)
           The number of times to loop the animation. 0 means
           infinitely.

   This chunk MUST appear if the _Animation_ flag in the VP8X chunk is
   set.  If the _Animation_ flag is not set and this chunk is present,
   it MUST be ignored.

   ANMF chunk:

   For animated images, this chunk contains information about a _single_
   frame.  If the _Animation flag_ is not set, then this chunk SHOULD
   NOT be present.



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    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('ANMF')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                        Frame X                |             ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   ...          Frame Y            |   Frame Width Minus One     ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   ...             |           Frame Height Minus One              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                 Frame Duration                |  Reserved |B|D|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                         Frame Data                            :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                            Figure 9: ANMF chunk

   Frame X: 24 bits (_uint24_)
           The X coordinate of the upper left corner of the frame is
           Frame X * 2

   Frame Y: 24 bits (_uint24_)
           The Y coordinate of the upper left corner of the frame is
           Frame Y * 2

   Frame Width Minus One: 24 bits (_uint24_)
           The _1-based_ width of the frame.  The frame width is 1 +
           Frame Width Minus One

   Frame Height Minus One: 24 bits (_uint24_)
           The _1-based_ height of the frame.  The frame height is 1 +
           Frame Height Minus One

   Frame Duration: 24 bits (_uint24_)
           The time to wait before displaying the next frame, in 1
           millisecond units.  Note the interpretation of frame duration
           of 0 (and often <= 10) is implementation defined.  Many tools
           and browsers assign a minimum duration similar to GIF.

   Reserved: 6 bits
           MUST be 0.  Readers MUST ignore this field.

   Blending method (B): 1 bit
           Indicates how transparent pixels of _the current frame_ are
           to be blended with corresponding pixels of the previous
           canvas:



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           *  0: Use alpha blending.  After disposing of the previous
              frame, render the current frame on the canvas using
              alpha-blending (Section 2.7.1.1, Paragraph 10, Item
              16.4.2).  If the current frame does not have an alpha
              channel, assume alpha value of 255, effectively replacing
              the rectangle.

           *  1: Do not blend.  After disposing of the previous frame,
              render the current frame on the canvas by overwriting the
              rectangle covered by the current frame.

   Disposal method (D): 1 bit
           Indicates how _the current frame_ is to be treated after it
           has been displayed (before rendering the next frame) on the
           canvas:

           *  0: Do not dispose.  Leave the canvas as is.

           *  1: Dispose to background color.  Fill the _rectangle_ on
              the canvas covered by the _current frame_ with background
              color specified in the ANIM chunk (Section 2.7.1.1,
              Paragraph 2).

           Notes:

           *  The frame disposal only applies to the _frame rectangle_,
              that is, the rectangle defined by _Frame X_, _Frame Y_,
              _frame width_ and _frame height_. It may or may not cover
              the whole canvas.

           *  Alpha-blending:

              Given that each of the R, G, B and A channels is 8-bit,
              and the RGB channels are _not premultiplied_ by alpha, the
              formula for blending 'dst' onto 'src' is:

              blend.A = src.A + dst.A * (1 - src.A / 255)
              if blend.A = 0 then
                blend.RGB = 0
              else
                blend.RGB =
                    (src.RGB * src.A +
                     dst.RGB * dst.A * (1 - src.A / 255)) / blend.A








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           *  Alpha-blending SHOULD be done in linear color space, by
              taking into account the color profile (Section 2.7.1.4) of
              the image.  If the color profile is not present, sRGB is
              to be assumed.  (Note that sRGB also needs to be
              linearized due to a gamma of ~2.2).

   Frame Data: _Chunk Size_ - 16 bytes
           Consists of:

           *  An optional alpha subchunk (Section 2.7.1.2) for the
              frame.

           *  A bitstream subchunk (Section 2.7.1.3) for the frame.

           *  An optional list of unknown chunks (Section 2.7.1.6).

   Note: The 'ANMF' payload, _Frame Data_ above, consists of individual
   _padded_ chunks as described by the RIFF file format (Section 2.3).

2.7.1.2.  Alpha

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('ALPH')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Rsv| P | F | C |     Alpha Bitstream...                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                           Figure 10: ALPH chunk

   Reserved (Rsv): 2 bits
           MUST be 0.  Readers MUST ignore this field.

   Pre-processing (P): 2 bits
           These informative bits are used to signal the pre-processing
           that has been performed during compression.  The decoder can
           use this information to e.g. dither the values or smooth the
           gradients prior to display.

           *  0: No pre-processing.

           *  1: Level reduction.

   Filtering method (F): 2 bits
           The filtering method used:




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           *  0: None.

           *  1: Horizontal filter.

           *  2: Vertical filter.

           *  3: Gradient filter.

           For each pixel, filtering is performed using the following
           calculations.  Assume the alpha values surrounding the
           current X position are labeled as:

            C | B |
           ---+---+
            A | X |

                                     Figure 11

           We seek to compute the alpha value at position X.  First, a
           prediction is made depending on the filtering method:

           *  Method 0: predictor = 0

           *  Method 1: predictor = A

           *  Method 2: predictor = B

           *  Method 3: predictor = clip(A + B - C)

           where clip(v) is equal to:

           *  0 if v < 0

           *  255 if v > 255

           *  v otherwise

           The final value is derived by adding the decompressed value X
           to the predictor and using modulo-256 arithmetic to wrap the
           [256..511] range into the [0..255] one:

           alpha = (predictor + X) % 256

           There are special cases for the left-most and top-most pixel
           positions:

           *  The top-left value at location (0, 0) uses 0 as predictor
              value.  Otherwise,



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           *  For horizontal or gradient filtering methods, the left-
              most pixels at location (0, y) are predicted using the
              location (0, y-1) just above.

           *  For vertical or gradient filtering methods, the top-most
              pixels at location (x, 0) are predicted using the location
              (x-1, 0) on the left.

           Decoders are not required to use this information in any
           specified way.

   Compression method (C): 2 bits
           The compression method used:

           *  0: No compression.

           *  1: Compressed using the WebP lossless format.

   Alpha bitstream: _Chunk Size_ - 1 bytes
           Encoded alpha bitstream.

   This optional chunk contains encoded alpha data for this frame.  A
   frame containing a 'VP8L' chunk SHOULD NOT contain this chunk.

   Rationale: The transparency information is already part of the 'VP8L'
   chunk.

   The alpha channel data is stored as uncompressed raw data (when
   compression method is '0') or compressed using the lossless format
   (when the compression method is '1').

   *  Raw data: consists of a byte sequence of length width * height,
      containing all the 8-bit transparency values in scan order.

   *  Lossless format compression: the byte sequence is a compressed
      image-stream (as described in Section 3) of implicit dimension
      width x height.  That is, this image-stream does NOT contain any
      headers describing the image dimension.

      Rationale: the dimension is already known from other sources, so
      storing it again would be redundant and error-prone.

      Once the image-stream is decoded into ARGB color values, following
      the process described in the lossless format specification, the
      transparency information must be extracted from the green channel
      of the ARGB quadruplet.





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      Rationale: the green channel is allowed extra transformation steps
      in the specification -- unlike the other channels -- that can
      improve compression.

2.7.1.3.  Bitstream (VP8/VP8L)

   This chunk contains compressed bitstream data for a single frame.

   A bitstream chunk may be either (i) a VP8 chunk, using "VP8 " (note
   the significant fourth-character space) as its tag _or_ (ii) a VP8L
   chunk, using "VP8L" as its tag.

   The formats of VP8 and VP8L chunks are as described in Section 2.5
   and Section 2.6 respectively.

2.7.1.4.  Color Profile

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('ICCP')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                       Color Profile                           :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                           Figure 12: ICCP chunk

   Color Profile: _Chunk Size_ bytes
           ICC profile.

   This chunk MUST appear before the image data.

   There SHOULD be at most one such chunk.  If there are more such
   chunks, readers MAY ignore all except the first one.  See the ICC
   Specification [ICC] for details.

   If this chunk is not present, sRGB SHOULD be assumed.

2.7.1.5.  Metadata

   Metadata can be stored in 'EXIF' or 'XMP ' chunks.

   There SHOULD be at most one chunk of each type ('EXIF' and 'XMP ').
   If there are more such chunks, readers MAY ignore all except the
   first one.

   The chunks are defined as follows:



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   EXIF chunk:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('EXIF')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                        Exif Metadata                          :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                           Figure 13: EXIF chunk

   Exif Metadata: _Chunk Size_ bytes
           Image metadata in [Exif] format.

   XMP chunk:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      ChunkHeader('XMP ')                      |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                        XMP Metadata                           :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                            Figure 14: XMP chunk

   XMP Metadata: _Chunk Size_ bytes
           Image metadata in [XMP] format.

   Note the fourth character in the 'XMP ' FourCC is an ASCII space
   (0x20).

   Additional guidance about handling metadata can be found in the
   Metadata Working Group's Guidelines for Handling Metadata [MWG].

2.7.1.6.  Unknown Chunks

   A RIFF chunk (described in Section 2.2.) whose _chunk tag_ is
   different from any of the chunks described in this section, is
   considered an _unknown chunk_.

   Rationale: Allowing unknown chunks gives a provision for future
   extension of the format, and also allows storage of any application-
   specific data.




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   A file MAY contain unknown chunks:

   *  At the end of the file as described in Section 2.7, Paragraph 9.

   *  At the end of ANMF chunks as described in Section 2.7.1.1.

   Readers SHOULD ignore these chunks.  Writers SHOULD preserve them in
   their original order (unless they specifically intend to modify these
   chunks).

2.7.2.  Assembling the Canvas From Frames

   Here we provide an overview of how a reader MUST assemble a canvas in
   the case of an animated image.

   The process begins with creating a canvas using the dimensions given
   in the 'VP8X' chunk, Canvas Width Minus One + 1 pixels wide by Canvas
   Height Minus One + 1 pixels high.  The Loop Count field from the
   'ANIM' chunk controls how many times the animation process is
   repeated.  This is Loop Count - 1 for non-zero Loop Count values or
   infinitely if Loop Count is zero.

   At the beginning of each loop iteration the canvas is filled using
   the background color from the 'ANIM' chunk or an application defined
   color.

   'ANMF' chunks contain individual frames given in display order.
   Before rendering each frame, the previous frame's Disposal method is
   applied.

   The rendering of the decoded frame begins at the Cartesian
   coordinates (2 * Frame X, 2 * Frame Y) using the top-left corner of
   the canvas as the origin.  Frame Width Minus One + 1 pixels wide by
   Frame Height Minus One + 1 pixels high are rendered onto the canvas
   using the Blending method.

   The canvas is displayed for Frame Duration milliseconds.  This
   continues until all frames given by 'ANMF' chunks have been
   displayed.  A new loop iteration is then begun or the canvas is left
   in its final state if all iterations have been completed.

   The following pseudocode illustrates the rendering process.  The
   notation _VP8X.field_ means the field in the 'VP8X' chunk with the
   same description.







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   assert VP8X.flags.hasAnimation
   canvas <- new image of size VP8X.canvasWidth x VP8X.canvasHeight with
             background color ANIM.background_color.
   loop_count <- ANIM.loopCount
   dispose_method <- Dispose to background color
   if loop_count == 0:
     loop_count = inf
   frame_params <- nil
   assert next chunk in image_data is ANMF
   for loop = 0..loop_count - 1
     clear canvas to ANIM.background_color or application defined color
     until eof or non-ANMF chunk
       frame_params.frameX = Frame X
       frame_params.frameY = Frame Y
       frame_params.frameWidth = Frame Width Minus One + 1
       frame_params.frameHeight = Frame Height Minus One + 1
       frame_params.frameDuration = Frame Duration
       frame_right = frame_params.frameX + frame_params.frameWidth
       frame_bottom = frame_params.frameY + frame_params.frameHeight
       assert VP8X.canvasWidth >= frame_right
       assert VP8X.canvasHeight >= frame_bottom
       for subchunk in 'Frame Data':
         if subchunk.tag == "ALPH":
           assert alpha subchunks not found in 'Frame Data' earlier
           frame_params.alpha = alpha_data
         else if subchunk.tag == "VP8 " OR subchunk.tag == "VP8L":
           assert bitstream subchunks not found in 'Frame Data' earlier
           frame_params.bitstream = bitstream_data
       render frame with frame_params.alpha and frame_params.bitstream
         on canvas with top-left corner at (frame_params.frameX,
         frame_params.frameY), using blending method
         frame_params.blendingMethod.
       canvas contains the decoded image.
       Show the contents of the canvas for
       frame_params.frameDuration * 1ms.
       dispose_method = frame_params.disposeMethod

2.7.3.  Example File Layouts

   A lossy encoded image with alpha may look as follows:

   RIFF/WEBP
   +- VP8X (descriptions of features used)
   +- ALPH (alpha bitstream)
   +- VP8 (bitstream)

                                 Figure 15




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   A losslessly encoded image may look as follows:

   RIFF/WEBP
   +- VP8X (descriptions of features used)
   +- XYZW (unknown chunk)
   +- VP8L (lossless bitstream)

                                 Figure 16

   A lossless image with ICC profile and XMP metadata may look as
   follows:

   RIFF/WEBP
   +- VP8X (descriptions of features used)
   +- ICCP (color profile)
   +- VP8L (lossless bitstream)
   +- XMP  (metadata)

                                 Figure 17

   An animated image with Exif metadata may look as follows:

   RIFF/WEBP
   +- VP8X (descriptions of features used)
   +- ANIM (global animation parameters)
   +- ANMF (frame1 parameters + data)
   +- ANMF (frame2 parameters + data)
   +- ANMF (frame3 parameters + data)
   +- ANMF (frame4 parameters + data)
   +- EXIF (metadata)

                                 Figure 18

3.  Specification for WebP Lossless Bitstream

   Note this section is based on the documentation in the libwebp source
   repository [webp-lossless-src].

3.1.  Abstract

   WebP lossless is an image format for lossless compression of ARGB
   images.  The lossless format stores and restores the pixel values
   exactly, including the color values for pixels whose alpha value is
   0.  The format uses subresolution images, recursively embedded into
   the format itself, for storing statistical data about the images,
   such as the used entropy codes, spatial predictors, color space
   conversion, and color table.  LZ77, prefix coding, and a color cache
   are used for compression of the bulk data.  Decoding speeds faster



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   than PNG have been demonstrated, as well as 25% denser compression
   than can be achieved using today's PNG format [webp-lossless-study].

3.2.  Introduction

   This section describes the compressed data representation of a WebP
   lossless image.

   In this section, we extensively use C programming language syntax
   [ISO.9899.2018] to describe the bitstream, and assume the existence
   of a function for reading bits, ReadBits(n).  The bytes are read in
   the natural order of the stream containing them, and bits of each
   byte are read in least-significant-bit-first order.  When multiple
   bits are read at the same time, the integer is constructed from the
   original data in the original order.  The most significant bits of
   the returned integer are also the most significant bits of the
   original data.  Thus, the statement

   b = ReadBits(2);

   is equivalent with the two statements below:

   b = ReadBits(1);
   b |= ReadBits(1) << 1;

   We assume that each color component (e.g. alpha, red, blue and green)
   is represented using an 8-bit byte.  We define the corresponding type
   as uint8.  A whole ARGB pixel is represented by a type called uint32,
   an unsigned integer consisting of 32 bits.  In the code showing the
   behavior of the transformations, alpha value is codified in bits
   31..24, red in bits 23..16, green in bits 15..8 and blue in bits
   7..0, but implementations of the format are free to use another
   representation internally.

   Broadly, a WebP lossless image contains header data, transform
   information and actual image data.  Headers contain width and height
   of the image.  A WebP lossless image can go through four different
   types of transformation before being entropy encoded.  The transform
   information in the bitstream contains the data required to apply the
   respective inverse transforms.

3.3.  Nomenclature

   ARGB   
           A pixel value consisting of alpha, red, green, and blue
           values.





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   ARGB image
           A two-dimensional array containing ARGB pixels.

   color cache
           A small hash-addressed array to store recently used colors,
           to be able to recall them with shorter codes.

   color indexing image
           A one-dimensional image of colors that can be indexed using a
           small integer (up to 256 within WebP lossless).

   color transform image
           A two-dimensional subresolution image containing data about
           correlations of color components.

   distance mapping
           Changes LZ77 distances to have the smallest values for pixels
           in 2D proximity.

   entropy image
           A two-dimensional subresolution image indicating which
           entropy coding should be used in a respective square in the
           image, i.e., each pixel is a meta prefix code.

   prefix code
           A classic way to do entropy coding where a smaller number of
           bits are used for more frequent codes.

   [LZ77] 
           Dictionary-based sliding window compression algorithm that
           either emits symbols or describes them as sequences of past
           symbols.

   meta prefix code
           A small integer (up to 16 bits) that indexes an element in
           the meta prefix table.

   predictor image
           A two-dimensional subresolution image indicating which
           spatial predictor is used for a particular square in the
           image.

   prefix coding
           A way to entropy code larger integers that codes a few bits
           of the integer using an entropy code and codifies the
           remaining bits raw.  This allows for the descriptions of the
           entropy codes to remain relatively small even when the range
           of symbols is large.



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   scan-line order
           A processing order of pixels, left-to-right, top-to-bottom,
           starting from the left-hand-top pixel, proceeding to the
           right.  Once a row is completed, continue from the left-hand
           column of the next row.

3.4.  RIFF Header

   The beginning of the header has the RIFF container.  This consists of
   the following 21 bytes:

   1.  String "RIFF"

   2.  A little-endian 32 bit value of the block length, the whole size
       of the block controlled by the RIFF header.  Normally this equals
       the payload size (file size minus 8 bytes: 4 bytes for the 'RIFF'
       identifier and 4 bytes for storing the value itself).

   3.  String "WEBP" (RIFF container name).

   4.  String "VP8L" (chunk tag for lossless encoded image data).

   5.  A little-endian 32-bit value of the number of bytes in the
       lossless stream.

   6.  One byte signature 0x2f.

   The first 28 bits of the bitstream specify the width and height of
   the image.  Width and height are decoded as 14-bit integers as
   follows:

   int image_width = ReadBits(14) + 1;
   int image_height = ReadBits(14) + 1;

   The 14-bit dynamics for image size limit the maximum size of a WebP
   lossless image to 16384x16384 pixels.

   The alpha_is_used bit is a hint only, and SHOULD NOT impact decoding.
   It SHOULD be set to 0 when all alpha values are 255 in the picture,
   and 1 otherwise.

   int alpha_is_used = ReadBits(1);

   The version_number is a 3 bit code that MUST be set to 0.  Any other
   value MUST be treated as an error.

   int version_number = ReadBits(3);




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3.5.  Transformations

   Transformations are reversible manipulations of the image data that
   can reduce the remaining symbolic entropy by modeling spatial and
   color correlations.  Transformations can make the final compression
   more dense.

   An image can go through four types of transformation.  A 1 bit
   indicates the presence of a transform.  Each transform is allowed to
   be used only once.  The transformations are used only for the main
   level ARGB image: the subresolution images have no transforms, not
   even the 0 bit indicating the end-of-transforms.

   Typically, an encoder would use these transforms to reduce the
   Shannon entropy in the residual image.  Also, the transform data can
   be decided based on entropy minimization.

   while (ReadBits(1)) {  // Transform present.
     // Decode transform type.
     enum TransformType transform_type = ReadBits(2);
     // Decode transform data.
     ...
   }

   // Decode actual image data.

   If a transform is present then the next two bits specify the
   transform type.  There are four types of transforms.

   enum TransformType {
     PREDICTOR_TRANSFORM             = 0,
     COLOR_TRANSFORM                 = 1,
     SUBTRACT_GREEN_TRANSFORM        = 2,
     COLOR_INDEXING_TRANSFORM        = 3,
   };

   The transform type is followed by the transform data.  Transform data
   contains the information required to apply the inverse transform and
   depends on the transform type.  Next we describe the transform data
   for different types.











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3.5.1.  Predictor Transform

   The predictor transform can be used to reduce entropy by exploiting
   the fact that neighboring pixels are often correlated.  In the
   predictor transform, the current pixel value is predicted from the
   pixels already decoded (in scan-line order) and only the residual
   value (actual - predicted) is encoded.  The _prediction mode_
   determines the type of prediction to use.  We divide the image into
   squares and all the pixels in a square use the same prediction mode.

   The first 3 bits of prediction data define the block width and height
   in number of bits.  The number of block columns, block_xsize, is used
   in indexing two-dimensionally.

   int size_bits = ReadBits(3) + 2;
   int block_width = (1 << size_bits);
   int block_height = (1 << size_bits);
   #define DIV_ROUND_UP(num, den) ((num) + (den) - 1) / (den))
   int block_xsize = DIV_ROUND_UP(image_width, 1 << size_bits);

   The transform data contains the prediction mode for each block of the
   image.  All the block_width * block_height pixels of a block use same
   prediction mode.  The prediction modes are treated as pixels of an
   image and encoded using the same techniques described in Section 3.6.

   For a pixel _x, y_, one can compute the respective filter block
   address by:

   int block_index = (y >> size_bits) * block_xsize +
                     (x >> size_bits);

   There are 14 different prediction modes.  In each prediction mode,
   the current pixel value is predicted from one or more neighboring
   pixels whose values are already known.

   We choose the neighboring pixels (TL, T, TR, and L) of the current
   pixel (P) as follows:

   O    O    O    O    O    O    O    O    O    O    O
   O    O    O    O    O    O    O    O    O    O    O
   O    O    O    O    TL   T    TR   O    O    O    O
   O    O    O    O    L    P    X    X    X    X    X
   X    X    X    X    X    X    X    X    X    X    X
   X    X    X    X    X    X    X    X    X    X    X

                                 Figure 19





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   where TL means top-left, T top, TR top-right, L left pixel.  At the
   time of predicting a value for P, all pixels O, TL, T, TR and L have
   already been processed, and pixel P and all pixels X are unknown.

   Given the above neighboring pixels, the different prediction modes
   are defined as follows.

   | Mode   | Predicted value of each channel of the current pixel    |
   | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------- |
   |  0     | 0xff000000 (represents solid black color in ARGB)       |
   |  1     | L                                                       |
   |  2     | T                                                       |
   |  3     | TR                                                      |
   |  4     | TL                                                      |
   |  5     | Average2(Average2(L, TR), T)                            |
   |  6     | Average2(L, TL)                                         |
   |  7     | Average2(L, T)                                          |
   |  8     | Average2(TL, T)                                         |
   |  9     | Average2(T, TR)                                         |
   | 10     | Average2(Average2(L, TL), Average2(T, TR))              |
   | 11     | Select(L, T, TL)                                        |
   | 12     | ClampAddSubtractFull(L, T, TL)                          |
   | 13     | ClampAddSubtractHalf(Average2(L, T), TL)                |

                                 Figure 20

   Average2 is defined as follows for each ARGB component:

   uint8 Average2(uint8 a, uint8 b) {
     return (a + b) / 2;
   }

   The Select predictor is defined as follows:


















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   uint32 Select(uint32 L, uint32 T, uint32 TL) {
     // L = left pixel, T = top pixel, TL = top left pixel.

     // ARGB component estimates for prediction.
     int pAlpha = ALPHA(L) + ALPHA(T) - ALPHA(TL);
     int pRed = RED(L) + RED(T) - RED(TL);
     int pGreen = GREEN(L) + GREEN(T) - GREEN(TL);
     int pBlue = BLUE(L) + BLUE(T) - BLUE(TL);

     // Manhattan distances to estimates for left and top pixels.
     int pL = abs(pAlpha - ALPHA(L)) + abs(pRed - RED(L)) +
              abs(pGreen - GREEN(L)) + abs(pBlue - BLUE(L));
     int pT = abs(pAlpha - ALPHA(T)) + abs(pRed - RED(T)) +
              abs(pGreen - GREEN(T)) + abs(pBlue - BLUE(T));

     // Return either left or top, the one closer to the prediction.
     if (pL < pT) {
       return L;
     } else {
       return T;
     }
   }

   The functions ClampAddSubtractFull and ClampAddSubtractHalf are
   performed for each ARGB component as follows:

   // Clamp the input value between 0 and 255.
   int Clamp(int a) {
     return (a < 0) ? 0 : (a > 255) ?  255 : a;
   }

   int ClampAddSubtractFull(int a, int b, int c) {
     return Clamp(a + b - c);
   }

   int ClampAddSubtractHalf(int a, int b) {
     return Clamp(a + (a - b) / 2);
   }

   There are special handling rules for some border pixels.  If there is
   a prediction transform, regardless of the mode [0..13] for these
   pixels, the predicted value for the left-topmost pixel of the image
   is 0xff000000, L-pixel for all pixels on the top row, and T-pixel for
   all pixels on the leftmost column.







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   Addressing the TR-pixel for pixels on the rightmost column is
   exceptional.  The pixels on the rightmost column are predicted by
   using the modes [0..13] just like pixels not on the border, but the
   leftmost pixel on the same row as the current pixel is instead used
   as the TR-pixel.

3.5.2.  Color Transform

   The goal of the color transform is to decorrelate the R, G and B
   values of each pixel.  The color transform keeps the green (G) value
   as it is, transforms red (R) based on green and transforms blue (B)
   based on green and then based on red.

   As is the case for the predictor transform, first the image is
   divided into blocks and the same transform mode is used for all the
   pixels in a block.  For each block there are three types of color
   transform elements.

   typedef struct {
     uint8 green_to_red;
     uint8 green_to_blue;
     uint8 red_to_blue;
   } ColorTransformElement;

   The actual color transformation is done by defining a color transform
   delta.  The color transform delta depends on the
   ColorTransformElement, which is the same for all the pixels in a
   particular block.  The delta is subtracted during the color
   transform.  The inverse color transform then is just adding those
   deltas.

   The color transform function is defined as follows:

   void ColorTransform(uint8 red, uint8 blue, uint8 green,
                       ColorTransformElement *trans,
                       uint8 *new_red, uint8 *new_blue) {
     // Transformed values of red and blue components
     int tmp_red = red;
     int tmp_blue = blue;

     // Applying the transform is just subtracting the transform deltas
     tmp_red  -= ColorTransformDelta(trans->green_to_red_,  green);
     tmp_blue -= ColorTransformDelta(trans->green_to_blue_, green);
     tmp_blue -= ColorTransformDelta(trans->red_to_blue_, red);

     *new_red = tmp_red & 0xff;
     *new_blue = tmp_blue & 0xff;
   }



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   ColorTransformDelta is computed using a signed 8-bit integer
   representing a 3.5-fixed-point number, and a signed 8-bit RGB color
   channel (c) [-128..127] and is defined as follows:

   int8 ColorTransformDelta(int8 t, int8 c) {
     return (t * c) >> 5;
   }

   A conversion from the 8-bit unsigned representation (uint8) to the
   8-bit signed one (int8) is required before calling
   ColorTransformDelta().  It should be performed using 8-bit two's
   complement (that is: uint8 range [128..255] is mapped to the
   [-128..-1] range of its converted int8 value).

   The multiplication is to be done using more precision (with at least
   16-bit dynamics).  The sign extension property of the shift operation
   does not matter here: only the lowest 8 bits are used from the
   result, and there the sign extension shifting and unsigned shifting
   are consistent with each other.

   Now we describe the contents of color transform data so that decoding
   can apply the inverse color transform and recover the original red
   and blue values.  The first 3 bits of the color transform data
   contain the width and height of the image block in number of bits,
   just like the predictor transform:

   int size_bits = ReadBits(3) + 2;
   int block_width = 1 << size_bits;
   int block_height = 1 << size_bits;

   The remaining part of the color transform data contains
   ColorTransformElement instances corresponding to each block of the
   image.  ColorTransformElement instances are treated as pixels of an
   image and encoded using the methods described in Section 3.6.

   During decoding, ColorTransformElement instances of the blocks are
   decoded and the inverse color transform is applied on the ARGB values
   of the pixels.  As mentioned earlier, that inverse color transform is
   just adding ColorTransformElement values to the red and blue
   channels.











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   void InverseTransform(uint8 red, uint8 green, uint8 blue,
                         ColorTransformElement *trans,
                         uint8 *new_red, uint8 *new_blue) {
     // Transformed values of red and blue components
     int tmp_red = red;
     int tmp_blue = blue;

     // Applying the inverse transform is just adding the
     // color transform deltas
     tmp_red  += ColorTransformDelta(trans->green_to_red, green);
     tmp_blue += ColorTransformDelta(trans->green_to_blue, green);
     tmp_blue +=
         ColorTransformDelta(trans->red_to_blue, tmp_red & 0xff);

     *new_red = tmp_red & 0xff;
     *new_blue = tmp_blue & 0xff;
   }

3.5.3.  Subtract Green Transform

   The subtract green transform subtracts green values from red and blue
   values of each pixel.  When this transform is present, the decoder
   needs to add the green value to both red and blue.  There is no data
   associated with this transform.  The decoder applies the inverse
   transform as follows:

   void AddGreenToBlueAndRed(uint8 green, uint8 *red, uint8 *blue) {
     *red  = (*red  + green) & 0xff;
     *blue = (*blue + green) & 0xff;
   }

   This transform is redundant as it can be modeled using the color
   transform, but it is still often useful.  Since it can extend the
   dynamics of the color transform and there is no additional data here,
   the subtract green transform can be coded using fewer bits than a
   full-blown color transform.

3.5.4.  Color Indexing Transform

   If there are not many unique pixel values, it may be more efficient
   to create a color index array and replace the pixel values by the
   array's indices.  The color indexing transform achieves this.  (In
   the context of WebP lossless, we specifically do not call this a
   palette transform because a similar but more dynamic concept exists
   in WebP lossless encoding: color cache).






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   The color indexing transform checks for the number of unique ARGB
   values in the image.  If that number is below a threshold (256), it
   creates an array of those ARGB values, which is then used to replace
   the pixel values with the corresponding index: the green channel of
   the pixels are replaced with the index; all alpha values are set to
   255; all red and blue values to 0.

   The transform data contains color table size and the entries in the
   color table.  The decoder reads the color indexing transform data as
   follows:

   // 8 bit value for color table size
   int color_table_size = ReadBits(8) + 1;

   The color table is stored using the image storage format itself.  The
   color table can be obtained by reading an image, without the RIFF
   header, image size, and transforms, assuming a height of one pixel
   and a width of color_table_size.  The color table is always
   subtraction-coded to reduce image entropy.  The deltas of palette
   colors contain typically much less entropy than the colors
   themselves, leading to significant savings for smaller images.  In
   decoding, every final color in the color table can be obtained by
   adding the previous color component values by each ARGB component
   separately, and storing the least significant 8 bits of the result.

   The inverse transform for the image is simply replacing the pixel
   values (which are indices to the color table) with the actual color
   table values.  The indexing is done based on the green component of
   the ARGB color.

   // Inverse transform
   argb = color_table[GREEN(argb)];

   If the index is equal or larger than color_table_size, the argb color
   value should be set to 0x00000000 (transparent black).

   When the color table is small (equal to or less than 16 colors),
   several pixels are bundled into a single pixel.  The pixel bundling
   packs several (2, 4, or 8) pixels into a single pixel, reducing the
   image width respectively.  Pixel bundling allows for a more efficient
   joint distribution entropy coding of neighboring pixels, and gives
   some arithmetic coding-like benefits to the entropy code, but it can
   only be used when there are 16 or fewer unique values.

   color_table_size specifies how many pixels are combined:






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   int width_bits;
   if (color_table_size <= 2) {
     width_bits = 3;
   } else if (color_table_size <= 4) {
     width_bits = 2;
   } else if (color_table_size <= 16) {
     width_bits = 1;
   } else {
     width_bits = 0;
   }

   width_bits has a value of 0, 1, 2 or 3.  A value of 0 indicates no
   pixel bundling is to be done for the image.  A value of 1 indicates
   that two pixels are combined, and each pixel has a range of [0..15].
   A value of 2 indicates that four pixels are combined, and each pixel
   has a range of [0..3].  A value of 3 indicates that eight pixels are
   combined, and each pixel has a range of [0..1], i.e., a binary value.

   The values are packed into the green component as follows:

   *  width_bits = 1: for every x value where x = 2k + 0, a green value
      at x is positioned into the 4 least-significant bits of the green
      value at x / 2, a green value at x + 1 is positioned into the 4
      most-significant bits of the green value at x / 2.

   *  width_bits = 2: for every x value where x = 4k + 0, a green value
      at x is positioned into the 2 least-significant bits of the green
      value at x / 4, green values at x + 1 to x + 3 are positioned in
      order to the more significant bits of the green value at x / 4.

   *  width_bits = 3: for every x value where x = 8k + 0, a green value
      at x is positioned into the least-significant bit of the green
      value at x / 8, green values at x + 1 to x + 7 are positioned in
      order to the more significant bits of the green value at x / 8.

3.6.  Image Data

   Image data is an array of pixel values in scan-line order.

3.6.1.  Roles of Image Data

   We use image data in five different roles:

   1.  ARGB image: Stores the actual pixels of the image.

   2.  Entropy image: Stores the meta prefix codes (Section 3.7.2.2).
       The red and green components of a pixel define the meta prefix
       code used in a particular block of the ARGB image.



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   3.  Predictor image: Stores the metadata for Predictor Transform
       (Section 3.5.1).  The green component of a pixel defines which of
       the 14 predictors is used within a particular block of the ARGB
       image.

   4.  Color transform image.  It is created by ColorTransformElement
       values (defined in Color Transform (Section 3.5.2)) for different
       blocks of the image.  Each ColorTransformElement 'cte' is treated
       as a pixel whose alpha component is 255, red component is
       cte.red_to_blue, green component is cte.green_to_blue and blue
       component is cte.green_to_red.

   5.  Color indexing image: An array of size color_table_size (up to
       256 ARGB values) storing the metadata for the Color Indexing
       Transform (Section 3.5.4).  This is stored as an image of width
       color_table_size and height 1.

3.6.2.  Encoding of Image Data

   The encoding of image data is independent of its role.

   The image is first divided into a set of fixed-size blocks (typically
   16x16 blocks).  Each of these blocks are modeled using their own
   entropy codes.  Also, several blocks may share the same entropy
   codes.

   Rationale: Storing an entropy code incurs a cost.  This cost can be
   minimized if statistically similar blocks share an entropy code,
   thereby storing that code only once.  For example, an encoder can
   find similar blocks by clustering them using their statistical
   properties, or by repeatedly joining a pair of randomly selected
   clusters when it reduces the overall amount of bits needed to encode
   the image.

   Each pixel is encoded using one of the three possible methods:

   1.  Prefix coded literal: each channel (green, red, blue and alpha)
       is entropy-coded independently;

   2.  LZ77 backward reference: a sequence of pixels are copied from
       elsewhere in the image; or

   3.  Color cache code: using a short multiplicative hash code (color
       cache index) of a recently seen color.

   The following subsections describe each of these in detail.





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3.6.2.1.  Prefix Coded Literals

   The pixel is stored as prefix coded values of green, red, blue and
   alpha (in that order).  See Section 3.7.2.3 for details.

3.6.2.2.  LZ77 Backward Reference

   Backward references are tuples of _length_ and _distance code_:

   *  Length indicates how many pixels in scan-line order are to be
      copied.

   *  Distance code is a number indicating the position of a previously
      seen pixel, from which the pixels are to be copied.  The exact
      mapping is described below (Section 3.6.2.2, Paragraph 11).

   The length and distance values are stored using *LZ77 prefix coding*.

   LZ77 prefix coding divides large integer values into two parts: the
   _prefix code_ and the _extra bits_: the prefix code is stored using
   an entropy code, while the extra bits are stored as they are (without
   an entropy code).

   Rationale: This approach reduces the storage requirement for the
   entropy code.  Also, large values are usually rare, and so extra bits
   would be used for very few values in the image.  Thus, this approach
   results in better compression overall.

   The following table denotes the prefix codes and extra bits used for
   storing different ranges of values.

   Note: The maximum backward reference length is limited to 4096.
   Hence, only the first 24 prefix codes (with the respective extra
   bits) are meaningful for length values.  For distance values,
   however, all the 40 prefix codes are valid.
















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   | Value range     | Prefix code | Extra bits |
   | --------------- | ----------- | ---------- |
   | 1               | 0           | 0          |
   | 2               | 1           | 0          |
   | 3               | 2           | 0          |
   | 4               | 3           | 0          |
   | 5..6            | 4           | 1          |
   | 7..8            | 5           | 1          |
   | 9..12           | 6           | 2          |
   | 13..16          | 7           | 2          |
   | ...             | ...         | ...        |
   | 3072..4096      | 23          | 10         |
   | ...             | ...         | ...        |
   | 524289..786432  | 38          | 18         |
   | 786433..1048576 | 39          | 18         |

                                 Figure 21

   The pseudocode to obtain a (length or distance) value from the prefix
   code is as follows:

   if (prefix_code < 4) {
     return prefix_code + 1;
   }
   int extra_bits = (prefix_code - 2) >> 1;
   int offset = (2 + (prefix_code & 1)) << extra_bits;
   return offset + ReadBits(extra_bits) + 1;

   Distance Mapping:

   As noted previously, a distance code is a number indicating the
   position of a previously seen pixel, from which the pixels are to be
   copied.  This subsection defines the mapping between a distance code
   and the position of a previous pixel.

   Distance codes larger than 120 denote the pixel-distance in scan-line
   order, offset by 120.

   The smallest distance codes [1..120] are special, and are reserved
   for a close neighborhood of the current pixel.  This neighborhood
   consists of 120 pixels:

   *  Pixels that are 1 to 7 rows above the current pixel, and are up to
      8 columns to the left or up to 7 columns to the right of the
      current pixel.  [Total such pixels = 7 * (8 + 1 + 7) = 112].

   *  Pixels that are in same row as the current pixel, and are up to 8
      columns to the left of the current pixel. [8 such pixels].



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   The mapping between distance code i and the neighboring pixel offset
   (xi, yi) is as follows:

   (0, 1),  (1, 0),  (1, 1),  (-1, 1), (0, 2),  (2, 0),  (1, 2),
   (-1, 2), (2, 1),  (-2, 1), (2, 2),  (-2, 2), (0, 3),  (3, 0),
   (1, 3),  (-1, 3), (3, 1),  (-3, 1), (2, 3),  (-2, 3), (3, 2),
   (-3, 2), (0, 4),  (4, 0),  (1, 4),  (-1, 4), (4, 1),  (-4, 1),
   (3, 3),  (-3, 3), (2, 4),  (-2, 4), (4, 2),  (-4, 2), (0, 5),
   (3, 4),  (-3, 4), (4, 3),  (-4, 3), (5, 0),  (1, 5),  (-1, 5),
   (5, 1),  (-5, 1), (2, 5),  (-2, 5), (5, 2),  (-5, 2), (4, 4),
   (-4, 4), (3, 5),  (-3, 5), (5, 3),  (-5, 3), (0, 6),  (6, 0),
   (1, 6),  (-1, 6), (6, 1),  (-6, 1), (2, 6),  (-2, 6), (6, 2),
   (-6, 2), (4, 5),  (-4, 5), (5, 4),  (-5, 4), (3, 6),  (-3, 6),
   (6, 3),  (-6, 3), (0, 7),  (7, 0),  (1, 7),  (-1, 7), (5, 5),
   (-5, 5), (7, 1),  (-7, 1), (4, 6),  (-4, 6), (6, 4),  (-6, 4),
   (2, 7),  (-2, 7), (7, 2),  (-7, 2), (3, 7),  (-3, 7), (7, 3),
   (-7, 3), (5, 6),  (-5, 6), (6, 5),  (-6, 5), (8, 0),  (4, 7),
   (-4, 7), (7, 4),  (-7, 4), (8, 1),  (8, 2),  (6, 6),  (-6, 6),
   (8, 3),  (5, 7),  (-5, 7), (7, 5),  (-7, 5), (8, 4),  (6, 7),
   (-6, 7), (7, 6),  (-7, 6), (8, 5),  (7, 7),  (-7, 7), (8, 6),
   (8, 7)

                                 Figure 22

   For example, the distance code 1 indicates an offset of (0, 1) for
   the neighboring pixel, that is, the pixel above the current pixel
   (0-pixel difference in the X-direction and 1 pixel difference in the
   Y-direction).  Similarly, the distance code 3 indicates the left-top
   pixel.

   The decoder can convert a distance code i to a scan-line order
   distance dist as follows:

   (xi, yi) = distance_map[i - 1]
   dist = xi + yi * xsize
   if (dist < 1) {
     dist = 1
   }

   where distance_map is the mapping noted above and xsize is the width
   of the image in pixels.

3.6.2.3.  Color Cache Coding

   Color cache stores a set of colors that have been recently used in
   the image.





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   Rationale: This way, the recently used colors can sometimes be
   referred to more efficiently than emitting them using the other two
   methods (described in Section 3.6.2.1 and Section 3.6.2.2).

   Color cache codes are stored as follows.  First, there is a 1-bit
   value that indicates if the color cache is used.  If this bit is 0,
   no color cache codes exist, and they are not transmitted in the
   prefix code that decodes the green symbols and the length prefix
   codes.  However, if this bit is 1, the color cache size is read next:

   int color_cache_code_bits = ReadBits(4);
   int color_cache_size = 1 << color_cache_code_bits;

   color_cache_code_bits defines the size of the color_cache by (1 <<
   color_cache_code_bits).  The range of allowed values for
   color_cache_code_bits is [1..11].  Compliant decoders MUST indicate a
   corrupted bitstream for other values.

   A color cache is an array of size color_cache_size.  Each entry
   stores one ARGB color.  Colors are looked up by indexing them by
   (0x1e35a7bd * color) >> (32 - color_cache_code_bits).  Only one
   lookup is done in a color cache; there is no conflict resolution.

   In the beginning of decoding or encoding of an image, all entries in
   all color cache values are set to zero.  The color cache code is
   converted to this color at decoding time.  The state of the color
   cache is maintained by inserting every pixel, be it produced by
   backward referencing or as literals, into the cache in the order they
   appear in the stream.

3.7.  Entropy Code

3.7.1.  Overview

   Most of the data is coded using a canonical prefix code [Huffman].
   Hence, the codes are transmitted by sending the _prefix code
   lengths_, as opposed to the actual _prefix codes_.

   In particular, the format uses *spatially-variant prefix coding*. In
   other words, different blocks of the image can potentially use
   different entropy codes.

   Rationale: Different areas of the image may have different
   characteristics.  So, allowing them to use different entropy codes
   provides more flexibility and potentially better compression.






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3.7.2.  Details

   The encoded image data consists of several parts:

   1.  Decoding and building the prefix codes

   2.  Meta prefix codes

   3.  Entropy-coded image data

3.7.2.1.  Decoding and Building the Prefix Codes

   There are several steps in decoding the prefix codes.

   *Decoding the Code Lengths:*

   This section describes how to read the prefix code lengths from the
   bitstream.

   The prefix code lengths can be coded in two ways.  The method used is
   specified by a 1-bit value.

   *  If this bit is 1, it is a _simple code length code_, and

   *  If this bit is 0, it is a _normal code length code_.

   In both cases, there can be unused code lengths that are still part
   of the stream.  This may be inefficient, but it is allowed by the
   format.

   *(i) Simple Code Length Code:*

   This variant is used in the special case when only 1 or 2 prefix
   symbols are in the range [0..255] with code length 1.  All other
   prefix code lengths are implicitly zeros.

   The first bit indicates the number of symbols:

   int num_symbols = ReadBits(1) + 1;

   Following are the symbol values.  This first symbol is coded using 1
   or 8 bits depending on the value of is_first_8bits.  The range is
   [0..1] or [0..255], respectively.  The second symbol, if present, is
   always assumed to be in the range [0..255] and coded using 8 bits.







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   int is_first_8bits = ReadBits(1);
   symbol0 = ReadBits(1 + 7 * is_first_8bits);
   code_lengths[symbol0] = 1;
   if (num_symbols == 2) {
     symbol1 = ReadBits(8);
     code_lengths[symbol1] = 1;
   }

   Note: Another special case is when _all_ prefix code lengths are
   _zeros_ (an empty prefix code).  For example, a prefix code for
   distance can be empty if there are no backward references.
   Similarly, prefix codes for alpha, red, and blue can be empty if all
   pixels within the same meta prefix code are produced using the color
   cache.  However, this case doesn't need special handling, as empty
   prefix codes can be coded as those containing a single symbol 0.

   *(ii) Normal Code Length Code:*

   The code lengths of the prefix code fit in 8 bits and are read as
   follows.  First, num_code_lengths specifies the number of code
   lengths.

   int num_code_lengths = 4 + ReadBits(4);

   If num_code_lengths is > 19, the bitstream is invalid.

   The code lengths are themselves encoded using prefix codes: lower
   level code lengths, code_length_code_lengths, first have to be read.
   The rest of those code_length_code_lengths (according to the order in
   kCodeLengthCodeOrder) are zeros.

   int kCodeLengthCodes = 19;
   int kCodeLengthCodeOrder[kCodeLengthCodes] = {
     17, 18, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
   };
   int code_length_code_lengths[kCodeLengthCodes] = { 0 };  // All zeros
   for (i = 0; i < num_code_lengths; ++i) {
     code_length_code_lengths[kCodeLengthCodeOrder[i]] = ReadBits(3);
   }

   Next, if ReadBits(1) == 0, the maximum number of different read
   symbols is num_code_lengths.  Otherwise, it is defined as:

   int length_nbits = 2 + 2 * ReadBits(3);
   int max_symbol = 2 + ReadBits(length_nbits);

   A prefix table is then built from code_length_code_lengths and used
   to read up to max_symbol code lengths.



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   *  Code [0..15] indicates literal code lengths.

      -  Value 0 means no symbols have been coded.

      -  Values [1..15] indicate the bit length of the respective code.

   *  Code 16 repeats the previous non-zero value [3..6] times, i.e., 3
      + ReadBits(2) times.  If code 16 is used before a non-zero value
      has been emitted, a value of 8 is repeated.

   *  Code 17 emits a streak of zeros [3..10], i.e., 3 + ReadBits(3)
      times.

   *  Code 18 emits a streak of zeros of length [11..138], i.e., 11 +
      ReadBits(7) times.

   Once code lengths are read, a prefix code for each symbol type (A, R,
   G, B, distance) is formed using their respective alphabet sizes:

   *  G channel: 256 + 24 + color_cache_size

   *  other literals (A,R,B): 256

   *  distance code: 40

3.7.2.2.  Decoding of Meta Prefix Codes

   As noted earlier, the format allows the use of different prefix codes
   for different blocks of the image. _Meta prefix codes_ are indexes
   identifying which prefix codes to use in different parts of the
   image.

   Meta prefix codes may be used _only_ when the image is being used in
   the role (Section 3.6.1) of an _ARGB image_.

   There are two possibilities for the meta prefix codes, indicated by a
   1-bit value:

   *  If this bit is zero, there is only one meta prefix code used
      everywhere in the image.  No more data is stored.

   *  If this bit is one, the image uses multiple meta prefix codes.
      These meta prefix codes are stored as an _entropy image_
      (described below).

   Entropy image:





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   The entropy image defines which prefix codes are used in different
   parts of the image, as described below.

   The first 3-bits contain the prefix_bits value.  The dimensions of
   the entropy image are derived from prefix_bits.

   int prefix_bits = ReadBits(3) + 2;
   int prefix_xsize = DIV_ROUND_UP(xsize, 1 << prefix_bits);
   int prefix_ysize = DIV_ROUND_UP(ysize, 1 << prefix_bits);

   where DIV_ROUND_UP is as defined in Section 3.5.1.

   The next bits contain an entropy image of width prefix_xsize and
   height prefix_ysize.

   Interpretation of Meta Prefix Codes:

   For any given pixel (x, y), there is a set of five prefix codes
   associated with it.  These codes are (in bitstream order):

   *  *Prefix code #1*: used for green channel, backward-reference
      length and color cache.

   *  *Prefix code #2, #3 and #4*: used for red, blue and alpha channels
      respectively.

   *  *Prefix code #5*: used for backward-reference distance.

   From here on, we refer to this set as a *prefix code group*.

   The number of prefix code groups in the ARGB image can be obtained by
   finding the _largest meta prefix code_ from the entropy image:

   int num_prefix_groups = max(entropy image) + 1;

   where max(entropy image) indicates the largest prefix code stored in
   the entropy image.

   As each prefix code group contains five prefix codes, the total
   number of prefix codes is:

   int num_prefix_codes = 5 * num_prefix_groups;

   Given a pixel (x, y) in the ARGB image, we can obtain the
   corresponding prefix codes to be used as follows:






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   int position =
       (y >> prefix_bits) * prefix_xsize + (x >> prefix_bits);
   int meta_prefix_code = (entropy_image[pos] >> 8) & 0xffff;
   PrefixCodeGroup prefix_group = prefix_code_groups[meta_prefix_code];

   where, we have assumed the existence of PrefixCodeGroup structure,
   which represents a set of five prefix codes.  Also,
   prefix_code_groups is an array of PrefixCodeGroup (of size
   num_prefix_groups).

   The decoder then uses prefix code group prefix_group to decode the
   pixel (x, y) as explained in Section 3.7.2.3.

3.7.2.3.  Decoding Entropy-coded Image Data

   For the current position (x, y) in the image, the decoder first
   identifies the corresponding prefix code group (as explained in the
   last section).  Given the prefix code group, the pixel is read and
   decoded as follows:

   Read next the symbol S from the bitstream using prefix code #1.  Note
   that S is any integer in the range 0 to (256 + 24 + color_cache_size
   (Section 3.6.2.3)- 1).

   The interpretation of S depends on its value:

   1.  if S < 256

       i.    Use S as the green component.

       ii.   Read red from the bitstream using prefix code #2.

       iii.  Read blue from the bitstream using prefix code #3.

       iv.   Read alpha from the bitstream using prefix code #4.

   2.  if S >= 256 && S < 256 + 24

       i.    Use S - 256 as a length prefix code.

       ii.   Read extra bits for length from the bitstream.

       iii.  Determine backward-reference length L from length prefix
             code and the extra bits read.

       iv.   Read distance prefix code from the bitstream using prefix
             code #5.




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       v.    Read extra bits for distance from the bitstream.

       vi.   Determine backward-reference distance D from distance
             prefix code and the extra bits read.

       vii.  Copy the L pixels (in scan-line order) from the sequence of
             pixels prior to them by D pixels.

   3.  if S >= 256 + 24

       i.   Use S - (256 + 24) as the index into the color cache.

       ii.  Get ARGB color from the color cache at that index.

3.8.  Overall Structure of the Format

   Below is a view into the format in Augmented Backus-Naur Form
   [RFC5234].  It does not cover all details.  End-of-image (EOI) is
   only implicitly coded into the number of pixels (xsize * ysize).

3.8.1.  Basic Structure

   format       = RIFF-header image-size image-stream
   RIFF-header  = "RIFF" 4OCTET "WEBP" "VP8L" 4OCTET %x2F
   image-size   = 14BIT 14BIT ; width - 1, height - 1
   image-stream = optional-transform spatially-coded-image

3.8.2.  Structure of Transforms

   optional-transform   =  (%b1 transform optional-transform) / %b0
   transform            =  predictor-tx / color-tx / subtract-green-tx
   transform            =/ color-indexing-tx

   predictor-tx         =  %b00 predictor-image
   predictor-image      =  3BIT ; sub-pixel code
                           entropy-coded-image

   color-tx             =  %b01 color-image
   color-image          =  3BIT ; sub-pixel code
                           entropy-coded-image

   subtract-green-tx    =  %b10

   color-indexing-tx    =  %b11 color-indexing-image
   color-indexing-image =  8BIT ; color count
                           entropy-coded-image





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3.8.3.  Structure of the Image Data

   spatially-coded-image =  color-cache-info meta-prefix data
   entropy-coded-image   =  color-cache-info data

   color-cache-info      =  %b0
   color-cache-info      =/ (%b1 4BIT) ; 1 followed by color cache size

   meta-prefix           =  %b0 / (%b1 entropy-image)

   data                  =  prefix-codes lz77-coded-image
   entropy-image         =  3BIT ; subsample value
                            entropy-coded-image

   prefix-codes          =  prefix-code-group *prefix-codes
   prefix-code-group     =
       5prefix-code ; See "Interpretation of Meta Prefix Codes" to
                    ; understand what each of these five prefix
                    ; codes are for.

   prefix-code           =  simple-prefix-code / normal-prefix-code
   simple-prefix-code    =  ; see "Simple Code Length Code" for details
   normal-prefix-code    =  code-length-code encoded-code-lengths
   code-length-code      =  ; see section "Normal Code Length Code"

   lz77-coded-image      =
       *((argb-pixel / lz77-copy / color-cache-code) lz77-coded-image)

   A possible example sequence:

   RIFF-header image-size %b1 subtract-green-tx
   %b1 predictor-tx %b0 color-cache-info
   %b0 prefix-codes lz77-coded-image

4.  Security Considerations

   Implementations of this format face security risks such as integer
   overflows, out-of-bounds reads and writes to both heap and stack,
   uninitialized data usage, null pointer dereferences, resource (disk,
   memory) exhaustion and extended resource usage (long running time) as
   part of the demuxing and decoding process.  In particular,
   implementations reading this format are likely to take input from
   unknown and possibly unsafe sources -- both clients (e.g., web
   browsers, email clients) and servers (e.g., applications which accept
   uploaded images).  These may result in arbitrary code execution,
   information leakage (memory layout and contents) or crashes and
   thereby allow a device to be compromised or cause a denial of service
   to an application using the format [cve.mitre.org-libwebp]



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   [crbug-security].

   The format does not employ "active content", but does allow metadata
   ([XMP], [Exif]) and custom chunks to be embedded in a file.
   Applications that interpret these chunks may be subject to security
   considerations for those formats.

5.  Interoperability Considerations

   The format is defined using little-endian byte ordering (see
   Section 3.1 of [RFC2781]), but demuxing and decoding are possible on
   platforms using a different ordering with the appropriate conversion.
   The container is RIFF-based and allows extension via user defined
   chunks, but nothing beyond the chunks defined by the container format
   (Section 2) are required for decoding of the image.  These have been
   finalized, but were extended in the format's early stages, so some
   older readers may not support lossless or animated image decoding.

6.  IANA Considerations

   IANA has registered the following media type [RFC2046].

6.1.  The 'image/webp' Media Type

   This section contains the media type registration details as per
   [RFC6838].

6.1.1.  Registration Details

   *RFC Editor Note:* Replace RFCXXXX with the published RFC number and
   add an xref to the entry in the Normative References section.

   Type name: image

   Subtype name: webp

   Required parameters: N/A

   Optional parameters: N/A

   Encoding considerations: Binary.  The Base64 encoding [RFC4648]
   should be used on transports that cannot accommodate binary data
   directly.

   Security considerations: See Section 4.

   Interoperability considerations: See Section 5.




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   Published specification: RFCXXXX

   Applications that use this media type: Applications that are used to
   display and process images, especially when smaller image file sizes
   are important.

   Fragment identifier considerations: N/A

   Additional information:

      Deprecated alias names for this type: N/A

      Magic number(s): The first 4 bytes are 0x52, 0x49, 0x46, 0x46
      ('RIFF'), followed by 4 bytes for the RIFF chunk size.  The next 7
      bytes are 0x57, 0x45, 0x42, 0x50, 0x56, 0x50, 0x38 ('WEBPVP8').

      File extension(s): webp

      Apple Uniform Type Identifier: org.webmproject.webp conforms to
      public.image

      Object Identifiers: N/A

   Person & email address to contact for further information:

      Name: James Zern

      Email: jzern@google.com

   Intended usage: COMMON

   Restrictions on usage: N/A

   Author:

      Name: James Zern

      Email: jzern@google.com

   Change controller:

      Name: James Zern

      Email: jzern@google.com

      Name: Pascal Massimino

      Email: pascal.massimino@gmail.com



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      Name: WebM Project

      Email: webmaster@webmproject.org

   Provisional registration? (standards tree only): N/A

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [Exif]     Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), Japan
              Electronics and Information Technology Industries
              Association (JEITA), "Exchangeable image file format for
              digital still cameras: Exif Version 2.3",
              <https://www.cipa.jp/std/documents/e/DC-008-2012_E.pdf>.

   [ICC]      International Color Consortium, "ICC Specification",
              December 2010,
              <https://www.color.org/specification/ICC1v43_2010-12.pdf>.

   [ISO.9899.2018]
              International Organization for Standardization,
              "Information technology - Programming languages - C", ISO/
              IEC 9899:2018, June 2018.

   [rec601]   ITU, "BT.601: Studio encoding parameters of digital
              television for standard 4:3 and wide screen 16:9 aspect
              ratios", March 2011,
              <https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-BT.601/>.

   [RFC1166]  Kirkpatrick, S., Stahl, M., and M. Recker, "Internet
              numbers", RFC 1166, DOI 10.17487/RFC1166, July 1990,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1166>.

   [RFC2046]  Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
              Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types", RFC 2046,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2046, November 1996,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2046>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC2781]  Hoffman, P. and F. Yergeau, "UTF-16, an encoding of ISO
              10646", RFC 2781, DOI 10.17487/RFC2781, February 2000,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2781>.




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   [RFC4648]  Josefsson, S., "The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data
              Encodings", RFC 4648, DOI 10.17487/RFC4648, October 2006,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4648>.

   [RFC5234]  Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.

   [RFC6386]  Bankoski, J., Koleszar, J., Quillio, L., Salonen, J.,
              Wilkins, P., and Y. Xu, "VP8 Data Format and Decoding
              Guide", RFC 6386, DOI 10.17487/RFC6386, November 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6386>.

   [RFC6838]  Freed, N., Klensin, J., and T. Hansen, "Media Type
              Specifications and Registration Procedures", BCP 13,
              RFC 6838, DOI 10.17487/RFC6838, January 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6838>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

   [XMP]      Adobe Inc., "XMP Specification",
              <https://www.adobe.com/devnet/xmp.html>.

7.2.  Informative References

   [crbug-security]
              "libwebp Security Issues",
              <https://bugs.chromium.org/p/webp/issues/
              list?q=label%3ASecurity>.

   [cve.mitre.org-libwebp]
              "libwebp CVE List", <https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/
              cvekey.cgi?keyword=libwebp>.

   [GIF-spec] "GIF89a Specification",
              <https://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt>.

   [Huffman]  Huffman, D. A., "A Method for the Construction of Minimum
              Redundancy Codes", Proceedings of the Institute of Radio
              Engineers Number 9, pp. 1098-1101., September 1952.

   [JPEG-spec]
              "JPEG Standard (JPEG ISO/IEC 10918-1 ITU-T Recommendation
              T.81)", <https://www.w3.org/Graphics/JPEG/itu-t81.pdf>.




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   [LZ77]     Ziv, J. and A. Lempel, "A Universal Algorithm for
              Sequential Data Compression", IEEE Transactions on
              Information Theory Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 337-343., May 1977.

   [MWG]      Metadata Working Group, "Guidelines For Handling Image
              Metadata", November 2010,
              <https://web.archive.org/web/20180919181934/
              http://www.metadataworkinggroup.org/pdf/mwg_guidance.pdf>.

   [RFC2083]  Boutell, T., "PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
              Specification Version 1.0", RFC 2083,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2083, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2083>.

   [RIFF-spec]
              "RIFF (Resource Interchange File Format)",
              <https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/
              fdd000025.shtml>.

   [webp-lossless-src]
              Alakuijala, J., "WebP Lossless Bitstream Specification",
              November 2022,
              <https://chromium.googlesource.com/webm/libwebp/+/refs/
              tags/webp-rfc/doc/webp-lossless-bitstream-spec.txt>.

   [webp-lossless-study]
              Alakuijala, J. and V. Rabaud, "Lossless and Transparency
              Encoding in WebP", August 2017,
              <https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/docs/
              webp_lossless_alpha_study>.

   [webp-riff-src]
              Google LLC, "WebP RIFF Container", November 2022,
              <https://chromium.googlesource.com/webm/libwebp/+/refs/
              tags/webp-rfc/doc/webp-container-spec.txt>.

Authors' Addresses

   James Zern
   Google LLC
   1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
   Mountain View, CA 94043
   United States of America
   Phone: +1 650 253-0000
   Email: jzern@google.com






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   Pascal Massimino
   Google LLC
   Email: pascal.massimino@gmail.com


   Jyrki Alakuijala
   Google LLC
   Email: jyrki.alakuijala@gmail.com











































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