QOI

QOI, short for “Quite OK Image,” is a minimalist lossless image compression format designed to achieve extremely fast encoding and decoding speeds while maintaining compression ratios comparable to PNG. The project was created as a simpler alternative to complex legacy image formats, using an intentionally lightweight specification that can be implemented in only a few hundred lines of code. QOI focuses on predictable O(n) performance and efficient pixel encoding strategies without relying on heavyweight compression algorithms like DEFLATE. The format supports RGB and RGBA images while remaining easy to port across programming languages and hardware environments. Its simplicity and speed have made it popular among game developers, embedded systems engineers, graphics programmers, and experimental software projects. Overall, qoi demonstrates how streamlined design can achieve practical high-performance image compression with dramatically reduced implementation complexity.