# phoboslab/qoi

The “Quite OK Image Format” for fast, lossless image compression

Repository: https://github.com/phoboslab/qoi
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/qoi
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-05-29T08:15:43+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 70/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 84, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1743, "days_push": 96, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7522, forks 379 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:00.472980+00:00)

## What it is
QOI is the 'Quite OK Image Format', a fast, lossless image compression format with a single-file MIT-licensed C/C++ reference implementation. It trades slightly worse compression ratios than PNG for much higher encoding/decoding throughput.

## Use cases
- compress images losslessly faster than png
- encode and decode qoi image files in c or c++
- convert png images to qoi format
- benchmark image codec throughput against png and stb
- embed a simple image codec in a game or app
- port a lossless image format to other languages

## When to choose
- you need very fast lossless image encoding/decoding and can accept slightly larger files than PNG
- you want a tiny, dependency-free, single-file library that is easy to read and port
- you need a stable, finalized image format guaranteed to stay compatible

## When to avoid
- you need the best possible compression ratio rather than speed
- you need streaming encode/decode of images larger than 400 million pixels with minimal RAM
- you expect ongoing performance improvements or format changes, since the reference implementation intentionally stays simple and frozen

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: image-processing, compression, serialization
- domain: image-processing, graphics, files
- platform: cross-platform, c, cpp
- tags: image-format, lossless-compression, single-file-library, reference-implementation

## Member repositories
- phoboslab/qoi (main) score 70

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:00.472980+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:37:28.928604+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/phoboslab/qoi (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:00.472980+00:00, sha 60a28ae2ac3b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.