Question

I have a method converting BufferedImages who’s type is TYPE_CUSTOM to TYPE_INT_RGB. I am using the following code, however I would really like to find a faster way of doing this.

BufferedImage newImg = new BufferedImage(
    src.getWidth(), 
    src.getHeight(), 
    BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);

ColorConvertOp op = new ColorConvertOp(null);
op.filter(src, newImg);

It works fine, however it’s quite slow and I am wondering if there is a faster way to do this conversion.

ColorModel Before Conversion:

ColorModel: #pixelBits = 24 numComponents = 3 color space = java.awt.color.ICC_ColorSpace@1c92586f transparency = 1 has alpha = false isAlphaPre = false

ColorModel After Conversion:

DirectColorModel: rmask=ff0000 gmask=ff00 bmask=ff amask=0

Thanks!

---

Update:

Turns out working with the raw pixel data was the best way. Since the TYPE_CUSTOM was actually RGB converting it manually is simple and is about 95% faster than ColorConvertOp.

public static BufferedImage makeCompatible(BufferedImage img) throws IOException {
    // Allocate the new image
    BufferedImage dstImage = new BufferedImage(img.getWidth(), img.getHeight(), BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);

    // Check if the ColorSpace is RGB and the TransferType is BYTE. 
    // Otherwise this fast method does not work as expected
    ColorModel cm = img.getColorModel();
    if ( cm.getColorSpace().getType() == ColorSpace.TYPE_RGB && img.getRaster().getTransferType() == DataBuffer.TYPE_BYTE ) {
        //Allocate arrays
        int len = img.getWidth()*img.getHeight();
        byte[] src = new byte[len*3];
        int[] dst = new int[len];

        // Read the src image data into the array
        img.getRaster().getDataElements(0, 0, img.getWidth(), img.getHeight(), src);

        // Convert to INT_RGB
        int j = 0;
        for ( int i=0; i<len; i++ ) {
            dst[i] = (((int)src[j++] & 0xFF) << 16) | 
                     (((int)src[j++] & 0xFF) << 8) | 
                     (((int)src[j++] & 0xFF));
        }

        // Set the dst image data
        dstImage.getRaster().setDataElements(0, 0, img.getWidth(), img.getHeight(), dst);

        return dstImage;
    }

    ColorConvertOp op = new ColorConvertOp(null);
    op.filter(img, dstImage);

    return dstImage;
}

Answer 1

BufferedImages are painfully slow. I got a solution but I’m not sure you will like it. The fastest way to process and convert buffered images is to extract the raw data array from inside the BufferedImage. You do that by calling buffImg.getRaster() and converting it into the specific raster. Then call raster.getDataStorage(). Once you have access to the raw data it is possible to write fast image processing code without all the abstraction in BufferedImages slowing it down. This technique also requires an in depth understanding of image formats and some reverse engineering on your part. This is the only way I have been able to get image processing code to run fast enough for my applications.

Example:

ByteInterleavedRaster srcRaster = (ByteInterleavedRaster)src.getRaster();
byte srcData[] = srcRaster.getDataStorage();

IntegerInterleavedRaster dstRaster = (IntegerInterleavedRaster)dst.getRaster();
int dstData[] = dstRaster.getDataStorage();

dstData[0] = srcData[0] << 16 | srcData[1] << 8 | srcData[2];

or something like that. Expect compiler errors warning you not to access low level rasters like that. The only place I have had issues with this technique is inside of applets where an access violation will occur.