PNG (or TIFF) file size against RAW file size are relevant of 2 points:
- 1/ image data are in RGB color space and take more place.
- 2/ image data are lossless compressed (deflate compression for PNG and TIFF)
Both file format don't know wavelet compression yet.
Alternative to PNG or TIFF :
- JPEG2000 : wavelet/lossless compression and support all metadata (need future Exiv2 0.18 for that). File size are reduced (x1/2 - 1/4 against PNG). Big problem : it very slow to compress/uncompress
- DNG : use lossless JPEG compression with 16 bits color depth (not wavelet based). file size reduced (x1/2) but DNG SDK is patented, do not support Linux as well, and documentation is dumy for developpers. Licence is not opensource but you can use as well with many restriction.
- HDPhoto : wavelet based. file size reduced (as JPEG 2000). But it's M$ stuff patented and do not support Linux as well, and licence is anti open source.
I recommend to read my blog entry for details :
http://www.digikam.org/drupal/node/368Best
Gilles