Webmodels: Lena

Before deploying a new image codec to Chrome or Safari, engineers still run Lena through it. Why? Because if you can't compress Lena well, you can't compress any face well.

The most used image in the history of computer science was never meant to be an image at all. It was a signal. And that signal taught us how to build the visual web. webmodels lena

But how did a glossy magazine photograph become the benchmark for —the algorithms that compress, stream, and recognize images on every modern website? Before deploying a new image codec to Chrome