Format Coverage Matrix¶
Purpose¶
Use this matrix to choose a realistic smoke-test input and to distinguish a format boundary from a regression. A file suffix is only an import candidate; the actual container, pixel layout, profile, and decoder support still decide the result.
Input coverage¶
| Input family | Candidate extensions | Current expectation |
|---|---|---|
| JPEG | .jpg, .jpeg |
Baseline raster import, preview, Develop, and rendered export. RGB layouts and supported ICC state are required. |
| PNG | .png |
Baseline raster import, preview, Develop, and rendered export. Unsupported color types, interlace/encoding variants, or invalid color metadata fail explicitly. |
| TIFF | .tif, .tiff |
Classic TIFF and structurally valid BigTIFF can import supported single-page contiguous 8/16-bit integer RGB or gray layouts when the Qt TIFF plugin is present. Multi-page, SubIFD, tiled, floating-point, planar, unsupported compression, and unsupported sample layouts fail explicitly. |
| BMP | .bmp |
Candidate raster input through the Qt image path; validate with a real file on the target kit. |
| GIF | .gif |
Candidate raster input through the required Qt GIF plugin; validate with a real file on the target kit. |
| WebP | .webp |
Candidate raster input through the required Qt WebP plugin; validate with a real file on the target kit. |
| HEIC/HEIF | .heic, .heif |
Primary photographs through ImageIO on macOS 14+. The current Windows/Linux providers report unavailable. |
| LibRaw RAW | Common .arw, .cr2, .cr3, .nef, .dng, .raf, .orf, .rw2, plus other recognized RAW suffixes |
Supported only when the actual camera/container is decoded by the pinned LibRaw path. First-frame full decode accepts validated 16-bit RGB Bayer 2×2 and X-Trans 6×6 CFA data. Other sensor layouts remain explicitly unsupported. Embedded JPEG may provide the initial Gallery thumbnail. TIFF-wrapped camera files without a RAW suffix can import as RAW. |
| Video | .mov, .mp4, .m4v |
Supported H.264, HEVC and standard ProRes with supported AAC/PCM audio or no audio. Import, posters, metadata, review, Loupe playback and original export; no photo Develop or transcoding. |
Directory import considers raster, RAW and video candidates recursively, ignores hidden filenames, and returns item-level results. It does not make unsupported formats supported by copying or renaming them.
Output coverage¶
| Output | Current behavior | User-facing options |
|---|---|---|
| PNG | Opaque 8-bit or 16-bit output with resolved supported ICC state. | Studio format selection; CLI --png-bit-depth accepts 8 or 16, and --png-compression accepts 0–9, defaults 8/5. A 16-bit request from an 8-bit source is structurally unsupported. |
| JPEG | Opaque rendered output with resolved supported ICC state. | Studio and CLI quality 5–100 (default 95), plus auto, 444, 440, 422 or 420 chroma subsampling. |
| TIFF | Classic little-endian, top-left, contiguous output with baseline directory metadata and supported ICC state. | Studio format selection; CLI sample type, compression, level, and optional grayscale. Default is uint8 / Deflate predictor / level 6 / RGB / 300 DPI. |
| Original copy | Exact source bytes copied to a new destination. | Studio filter or CLI --format original, copy, or original-copy. No Develop rendering. |
Videos support original copy only. HLG/PQ poster and playback frames map to SDR sRGB; native HDR output, video edit/render export and automatic Live Photo pairing are not supported. Standard ProRes is admitted; ProRes RAW and unsupported pixel/audio layouts remain explicit failures. Unsupported auxiliary audio can coexist with a supported track and is reported as a warning.
TIFF product export accepts typed uint16, float16, and float32 from
engine-owned samples. An 8-bit source still returns unsupported for those
requests. TIFF-qualified flags are valid only with TIFF export.
Profile and metadata boundary¶
- Input profiles can come from supported embedded/source metadata or explicit recipe choices.
- Output and proof profiles are recipe state, separate from monitor presentation.
- Supported encoded outputs retain the resolved RGB profile where the format contract permits it.
- Rendered JPEG/PNG/TIFF write the bounded Catalog-owned Exif/XMP/IPTC subset, including validated capture time/offset/GPS. Capture refresh and full/no-location/none privacy are explicit catalog/export operations. Arbitrary source-packet copying and adjacent history-sidecar interchange are not part of the current export contract. Catalog-owned recovery JSON is a separate durability artifact.
Test evidence guidance¶
For a release or platform report, record the exact source file, platform, preset, Qt plugin set, output format/options, and whether the result was imported, previewed, edited, reopened, and independently decoded. Do not turn a candidate extension into a blanket format guarantee.