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Color and detail handling Blu-ray (right) and iTunes 1080p (left)

Last week Ars Technica reported ^[2] on the compression technology being utilized by Apple with the new 1080p video content available on the iTunes Store. This technology has allowed the company to increase file sizes by 15-25% in comparison to 720p while more than doubling the number of pixels. Now Ars Technica published ^[3] a new analysis comparing relative quality of 1080p iTunes content with Blu-ray format.

Ars Technica offers several blown-up comparison shots, revealing that the iTunes Store 1080p content in most cases compares quite well to Blue-ray content, though it struggle a bit with highly detailed scenes, dark gradients and bright highlights.

“I was surprised to see how close the iTunes 1080p download comes to Blu-ray, considering that it's only a fraction of the file size. And let's be honest: there are lots of Blu-ray titles that look much worse than this iTunes download. But despite an impressive effort by Apple, Blu-ray still reigns king when it comes to image quality. And unlike iTunes titles, BRDs can have uncompressed multi-channel audio, multiple audio language options, and special features”.

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Dark gradient handling Blu-ray (bottom) and iTunes 1080p (top)

Apple’s move to iTunes Store 1080p video content is part of a significant transition to higher-resolution offerings. The new content will pair with movie support available in iTunes in the Cloud and upgraded 1080p hardware in the iPad 3 and rumored Apple TV set.