When working with user provided images in PHP you run into a problem. Lets say that you want to generate thumbnails of uploaded JPEGs for users. This is a fairly common use case where you would employ PHP and GD (the most prevalent php image extension.) But when you generate the new, smaller, image what quality setting do you use? If your quality setting is too low then the image is distorted unacceptably. Likewise if your quality setting is too high then you produce a dimensionally smaller image with a larger size in bytes than the original. So what do you do when you want to satisfy all cases? Well the obvious answer is that you should use the same JPEG quality setting that the image had when it was uploading. Now… Using PHP and GD tell me how you accomplish this.
Go ahead
I’ll wait
You can’t, can you? If you’re really sneaky you might be thinking about just pulling the data out of the binary stream, and if you’re a linux nut you’re probably sitting there muttering “just use identify (a la imagemagick)”. Of course if you try that under heavy traffic you’ll soon discover that it kills your servers. Just for reference I’ll share that code with you (not everyone is serving 2g/sec in dynamic image traffic after all). We already have the binary data in ram in the $rval variable, in case you were curious.
// define how we will deal with stdin, stdout, and stderr
$descriptorspec = array( 0 => array( "pipe", "r" ), 1 => array( "pipe", "w" ), 2 => array( "pipe", "a" ) );
// run identify, -verbose required, - means read file from stdin
$process = proc_open( IDENTIFY . ' -verbose -', $descriptorspec, $pipes );
if ( false !== $process ) {
// pipe the image data through it to its stdin
fwrite( $pipes[0], $rval );
// close stdin to allow identify to process
fclose( $pipes[0] );
// read the results of the program execution
$results = stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);
// clean up open file handles
fclose( $pipes[1] );
fclose( $pipes[2] );
// Unix return value of 0 means success
if ( 0 == proc_close($process) ) {
// pull out the image quality from identify output
if ( preg_match( '#Quality: ([0-9]+)[^0-9]#', $results, $m ) )
$origin_quality = intval($m[1]);
// detect when something goes wrong above
if ( $origin_quality == 0 )
$origin_quality = 100;
}
}
So, since this consumes too much of our available resources (especially ram and cpu usage since identify fully decompresses and reads the image into a raw state for processing… hundreds of MB of ram, which you can limit but then it becomes unbearably slow…) that’s out. What now? If you’re really extra sneaky you’re thinking that you should be able to read the setting out of the binary data… there should be a header after all, right? Well… Yes there is a header but “quality” is not a “setting” its more a measure of how compressed the image is… which isn’t exactly recorded either… at least… not as an integer value. The compression matrix used to preform JPEGs lossy compression *IS* stored in a header.. and it turns out this is what the ImageMagick code uses to give us that quality setting. So I set out to reproduce this in PHP.
I know… I’m a masochist.
Thanks to some serious google-fu (and possibly a note in a php online doc manual relating to IPC, I don’t remember which of the two led me to the package first) I found that there’s already some code out there which deals with the nasty bits of reading raw JPEG headers (though not doing what I want with the header that I want) in the PHP JPEG Metadata Toolkit And the instructions for evaluating the header we can then pull is in the ImageMagick source code (coders/jpeg.c)
When we put the two together and modify it a bit to suite our needs (i.e. reading from the in-memory buffer, pulling just the right header from the jpeg file, etc) we get this code… and finally the ability to call $quality = get_jpeg_quality( $rval ); In my test (yea just one or two… very scientific like), this over 100 times faster than using the proc_open and executable method, uses less ram (a lot lot lot lot lot less ram) and generally just doesn’t suck as much.
< ?php
function get_jpeg_header_data( &$buff, $want=null ) {
$data = buffer_read( $buff, 2, true ); // Read the first two characters
// Check that the first two characters are 0xFF 0xDA (SOI - Start of image)
if ( $data != "\xFF\xD8" ) {
// No SOI (FF D8) at start of file - This probably isn't a JPEG file - close file and return;
return false;
}
$data = buffer_read( $buff, 2 ); // Read the third character
// Check that the third character is 0xFF (Start of first segment header)
if ( $data{0} != "\xFF" ) {
// NO FF found - close file and return - JPEG is probably corrupted
return false;
}
// Cycle through the file until, one of:
// 1) an EOI (End of image) marker is hit,
// 2) we have hit the compressed image data (no more headers are allowed after data)
// 3) or end of file is hit
$hit_compressed_image_data = FALSE;
while ( ( $data{1} != "\xD9" ) && ( !$hit_compressed_image_data) && ( $data != '' ) ) {
// Found a segment to look at.
// Check that the segment marker is not a Restart marker - restart markers don't have size or data after them
if ( ( ord($data{1}) < 0xD0 ) || ( ord($data{1}) > 0xD7 ) ) {
// Segment isn't a Restart marker
$sizestr = buffer_read( $buff, 2 ); // Read the next two bytes (size)
$decodedsize = unpack ("nsize", $sizestr); // convert the size bytes to an integer
// Read the segment data with length indicated by the previously read size
$segdata = buffer_read( $buff, $decodedsize['size'] - 2 );
// Store the segment information in the output array
if ( !$want || $want == ord($data{1}) ) {
$headerdata[] = (object)array(
"SegType" => ord($data{1}),
"SegName" => $GLOBALS[ "JPEG_Segment_Names" ][ ord($data{1}) ],
"SegDesc" => $GLOBALS[ "JPEG_Segment_Descriptions" ][ ord($data{1}) ],
"SegData" => $segdata
);
}
}
// If this is a SOS (Start Of Scan) segment, then there is no more header data - the compressed image data follows
if ( $data{1} == "\xDA" ) {
$hit_compressed_image_data = true;
} else {
// Not an SOS - Read the next two bytes - should be the segment marker for the next segment
$data = buffer_read( $buff, 2 );
// Check that the first byte of the two is 0xFF as it should be for a marker
if ( $data{0} != "\xFF" ) {
// NO FF found - close file and return - JPEG is probably corrupted
return false;
}
}
}
return $headerdata;
}
function buffer_read( &$buff, $len, $new=false ) {
static $pointer = 0;
if ( $new )
$pointer = 0;
if ( $pointer + $len > strlen( $buff ) ) {
$len = strlen( $buff ) - $pointer;
if ( $len < 1 )
return null;
}
$data = substr( $buff, $pointer, $len );
$pointer += $len;
return $data;
}
// The names of the JPEG segment markers, indexed by their marker number
$GLOBALS[ "JPEG_Segment_Names" ] = array(
0xC0 => "SOF0", 0xC1 => "SOF1", 0xC2 => "SOF2", 0xC3 => "SOF4",
0xC5 => "SOF5", 0xC6 => "SOF6", 0xC7 => "SOF7", 0xC8 => "JPG",
0xC9 => "SOF9", 0xCA => "SOF10", 0xCB => "SOF11", 0xCD => "SOF13",
0xCE => "SOF14", 0xCF => "SOF15",
0xC4 => "DHT", 0xCC => "DAC",
0xD0 => "RST0", 0xD1 => "RST1", 0xD2 => "RST2", 0xD3 => "RST3",
0xD4 => "RST4", 0xD5 => "RST5", 0xD6 => "RST6", 0xD7 => "RST7",
0xD8 => "SOI", 0xD9 => "EOI", 0xDA => "SOS", 0xDB => "DQT",
0xDC => "DNL", 0xDD => "DRI", 0xDE => "DHP", 0xDF => "EXP",
0xE0 => "APP0", 0xE1 => "APP1", 0xE2 => "APP2", 0xE3 => "APP3",
0xE4 => "APP4", 0xE5 => "APP5", 0xE6 => "APP6", 0xE7 => "APP7",
0xE8 => "APP8", 0xE9 => "APP9", 0xEA => "APP10", 0xEB => "APP11",
0xEC => "APP12", 0xED => "APP13", 0xEE => "APP14", 0xEF => "APP15",
0xF0 => "JPG0", 0xF1 => "JPG1", 0xF2 => "JPG2", 0xF3 => "JPG3",
0xF4 => "JPG4", 0xF5 => "JPG5", 0xF6 => "JPG6", 0xF7 => "JPG7",
0xF8 => "JPG8", 0xF9 => "JPG9", 0xFA => "JPG10", 0xFB => "JPG11",
0xFC => "JPG12", 0xFD => "JPG13",
0xFE => "COM", 0x01 => "TEM", 0x02 => "RES",
);
// The descriptions of the JPEG segment markers, indexed by their marker number
$GLOBALS[ "JPEG_Segment_Descriptions" ] = array(
/* JIF Marker byte pairs in JPEG Interchange Format sequence */
0xC0 => "Start Of Frame (SOF) Huffman - Baseline DCT",
0xC1 => "Start Of Frame (SOF) Huffman - Extended sequential DCT",
0xC2 => "Start Of Frame Huffman - Progressive DCT (SOF2)",
0xC3 => "Start Of Frame Huffman - Spatial (sequential) lossless (SOF3)",
0xC5 => "Start Of Frame Huffman - Differential sequential DCT (SOF5)",
0xC6 => "Start Of Frame Huffman - Differential progressive DCT (SOF6)",
0xC7 => "Start Of Frame Huffman - Differential spatial (SOF7)",
0xC8 => "Start Of Frame Arithmetic - Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG)",
0xC9 => "Start Of Frame Arithmetic - Extended sequential DCT (SOF9)",
0xCA => "Start Of Frame Arithmetic - Progressive DCT (SOF10)",
0xCB => "Start Of Frame Arithmetic - Spatial (sequential) lossless (SOF11)",
0xCD => "Start Of Frame Arithmetic - Differential sequential DCT (SOF13)",
0xCE => "Start Of Frame Arithmetic - Differential progressive DCT (SOF14)",
0xCF => "Start Of Frame Arithmetic - Differential spatial (SOF15)",
0xC4 => "Define Huffman Table(s) (DHT)",
0xCC => "Define Arithmetic coding conditioning(s) (DAC)",
0xD0 => "Restart with modulo 8 count 0 (RST0)",
0xD1 => "Restart with modulo 8 count 1 (RST1)",
0xD2 => "Restart with modulo 8 count 2 (RST2)",
0xD3 => "Restart with modulo 8 count 3 (RST3)",
0xD4 => "Restart with modulo 8 count 4 (RST4)",
0xD5 => "Restart with modulo 8 count 5 (RST5)",
0xD6 => "Restart with modulo 8 count 6 (RST6)",
0xD7 => "Restart with modulo 8 count 7 (RST7)",
0xD8 => "Start of Image (SOI)",
0xD9 => "End of Image (EOI)",
0xDA => "Start of Scan (SOS)",
0xDB => "Define quantization Table(s) (DQT)",
0xDC => "Define Number of Lines (DNL)",
0xDD => "Define Restart Interval (DRI)",
0xDE => "Define Hierarchical progression (DHP)",
0xDF => "Expand Reference Component(s) (EXP)",
0xE0 => "Application Field 0 (APP0) - usually JFIF or JFXX",
0xE1 => "Application Field 1 (APP1) - usually EXIF or XMP/RDF",
0xE2 => "Application Field 2 (APP2) - usually Flashpix",
0xE3 => "Application Field 3 (APP3)",
0xE4 => "Application Field 4 (APP4)",
0xE5 => "Application Field 5 (APP5)",
0xE6 => "Application Field 6 (APP6)",
0xE7 => "Application Field 7 (APP7)",
0xE8 => "Application Field 8 (APP8)",
0xE9 => "Application Field 9 (APP9)",
0xEA => "Application Field 10 (APP10)",
0xEB => "Application Field 11 (APP11)",
0xEC => "Application Field 12 (APP12) - usually [picture info]",
0xED => "Application Field 13 (APP13) - usually photoshop IRB / IPTC",
0xEE => "Application Field 14 (APP14)",
0xEF => "Application Field 15 (APP15)",
0xF0 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG0)",
0xF1 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG1)",
0xF2 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG2)",
0xF3 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG3)",
0xF4 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG4)",
0xF5 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG5)",
0xF6 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG6)",
0xF7 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG7)",
0xF8 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG8)",
0xF9 => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG9)",
0xFA => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG10)",
0xFB => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG11)",
0xFC => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG12)",
0xFD => "Reserved for JPEG extensions (JPG13)",
0xFE => "Comment (COM)",
0x01 => "For temp private use arith code (TEM)",
0x02 => "Reserved (RES)",
);
/**
* Most of this function is taken directly from the source code for imagemagick
* and how it handles identify -verbose $filename to present you with a Quality
* number. This number should be considered approximate. It's essentially
* based upon the numbers used to perform compression on the original image
* data...
*
* See: http://www.obrador.com/essentialjpeg/headerinfo.htm
* See: http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/jpeg-quantization.html
* See: http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/jpeg-huffman-coding.html
*/
function get_jpeg_quality( &$buff ) {
$tables = array(
'multi' => array(
'hash' => array(
1020, 1015, 932, 848, 780, 735, 702, 679, 660, 645,
632, 623, 613, 607, 600, 594, 589, 585, 581, 571,
555, 542, 529, 514, 494, 474, 457, 439, 424, 410,
397, 386, 373, 364, 351, 341, 334, 324, 317, 309,
299, 294, 287, 279, 274, 267, 262, 257, 251, 247,
243, 237, 232, 227, 222, 217, 213, 207, 202, 198,
192, 188, 183, 177, 173, 168, 163, 157, 153, 148,
143, 139, 132, 128, 125, 119, 115, 108, 104, 99,
94, 90, 84, 79, 74, 70, 64, 59, 55, 49,
45, 40, 34, 30, 25, 20, 15, 11, 6, 4,
0
), // hash
'sums' => array (
32640, 32635, 32266, 31495, 30665, 29804, 29146, 28599, 28104,
27670, 27225, 26725, 26210, 25716, 25240, 24789, 24373, 23946,
23572, 22846, 21801, 20842, 19949, 19121, 18386, 17651, 16998,
16349, 15800, 15247, 14783, 14321, 13859, 13535, 13081, 12702,
12423, 12056, 11779, 11513, 11135, 10955, 10676, 10392, 10208,
9928, 9747, 9564, 9369, 9193, 9017, 8822, 8639, 8458,
8270, 8084, 7896, 7710, 7527, 7347, 7156, 6977, 6788,
6607, 6422, 6236, 6054, 5867, 5684, 5495, 5305, 5128,
4945, 4751, 4638, 4442, 4248, 4065, 3888, 3698, 3509,
3326, 3139, 2957, 2775, 2586, 2405, 2216, 2037, 1846,
1666, 1483, 1297, 1109, 927, 735, 554, 375, 201,
128, 0
), // sums
), // multi
'single' => array(
'hash' => array(
510, 505, 422, 380, 355, 338, 326, 318, 311, 305,
300, 297, 293, 291, 288, 286, 284, 283, 281, 280,
279, 278, 277, 273, 262, 251, 243, 233, 225, 218,
211, 205, 198, 193, 186, 181, 177, 172, 168, 164,
158, 156, 152, 148, 145, 142, 139, 136, 133, 131,
129, 126, 123, 120, 118, 115, 113, 110, 107, 105,
102, 100, 97, 94, 92, 89, 87, 83, 81, 79,
76, 74, 70, 68, 66, 63, 61, 57, 55, 52,
50, 48, 44, 42, 39, 37, 34, 31, 29, 26,
24, 21, 18, 16, 13, 11, 8, 6, 3, 2,
0
), // hash
'sums' => array(
16320, 16315, 15946, 15277, 14655, 14073, 13623, 13230, 12859,
12560, 12240, 11861, 11456, 11081, 10714, 10360, 10027, 9679,
9368, 9056, 8680, 8331, 7995, 7668, 7376, 7084, 6823,
6562, 6345, 6125, 5939, 5756, 5571, 5421, 5240, 5086,
4976, 4829, 4719, 4616, 4463, 4393, 4280, 4166, 4092,
3980, 3909, 3835, 3755, 3688, 3621, 3541, 3467, 3396,
3323, 3247, 3170, 3096, 3021, 2952, 2874, 2804, 2727,
2657, 2583, 2509, 2437, 2362, 2290, 2211, 2136, 2068,
1996, 1915, 1858, 1773, 1692, 1620, 1552, 1477, 1398,
1326, 1251, 1179, 1109, 1031, 961, 884, 814, 736,
667, 592, 518, 441, 369, 292, 221, 151, 86,
64, 0
), // sums
), // single
); // tables
$headers = get_jpeg_header_data( $buff, 0xDB );
if ( !is_array( $headers ) || !count( $headers ) )
return 100;
$header = $headers[0];
$quality = 0;
if ( strlen($header->SegData) > 128 ) {
$entry = array( 0 => array(), 1 => array() );
foreach ( str_split( substr( $header->SegData, 1, 64) ) as $chr )
$entry[0][] = ord($chr);
foreach ( str_split( substr( $header->SegData, -64) ) as $chr )
$entry[1][] = ord($chr);
$sum = array_sum( $entry[0] ) + array_sum( $entry[1] );
$qvalue = $entry[0][2] + $entry[0][53] + $entry[1][0] + $entry[1][63];
$table = "multi";
} else if ( strlen($header->SegData) > 64 ) {
$entry = array( 0 => array() );
foreach ( str_split( substr( $header->SegData, 1, 64) ) as $chr )
$entry[0][] = ord($chr);
$sum = array_sum( $entry[0] );
$qvalue = $entry[0][2] + $entry[0][53];
$table = "single";
} else {
return 100; // go with a safe value
}
for( $i = 0; $i < 100; $i++ ) {
if ( ( $qvalue < $tables[$table]['hash'][$i] ) && ( $sum < $tables[$table]['sums'][$i] ) )
continue;
// error_log( "$table >> $qvalue && $sum >> " . ( $i + 1 ) );
return $i + 1;
}
return 100; // go with a safe value
}
Right… serious suckage. Which is why I’m sharing it here so that you don’t have to go through all that trouble. You can just steal my stolen code. Aren’t GPL compatible licenses fun?
Ok, finally, you… in the back… stop jumping up and down screaming about the Imagick PECL extension… In my testing getCompressionQuality() didnt work and getImageCompression() was unavailable (though I hear there is a newer version of the extension now… YMMV)
Thanks for sharing. This one goes to my bookmarks for future adventures
Demetrious, you are a genius! Love it.
in JPEG_Segment_Names: there's no SOF4. 0xc3 is for SOF3.
// error_log( "$table >> $qvalue && $sum >> " . ( $i + 1 ) );
return $i + 1;
Plus one is wrong. Tested a couple of images and programs with their quality settings and even ImageMagick IDENTIFY always gives back a value one less than yours. Additionally your arrays don't need 101 elements. 😉
Great stuff, tho. Converted it to Pascal.