Compiling SSIM on Mac

November 25th, 2014
tech
If you want to examine the distortion that comes from a lossy compression algorithm, it's helpful to have a tool that's a good proxy for asking a person "how similar are these two images"? The standard algorithm for this is SSIM, but there are several implementations. I was initially using Pornel's dssim, but I wanted to compare this to Mehdi's SSIM. Mehdi's doesn't document how to compile it on a mac, so here's what worked for me:

  1. Install OpenCV
    1. Download OpenCV for linux/mac. I downloaded 2.4.9 from opencv.org/downloads.
    2. unzip ~/Downloads/opencv-2.4.9.zip
    3. cd ~/Downloads/opencv-2.4.9/
    4. mkdir build && cd build
    5. cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" ..
    6. make -j8
    7. sudo make install
  2. Download SSIM.ccp: wget http://mehdi.rabah.free.fr/SSIM/SSIM.cpp
  3. The SSIM.cpp file needs a small change: replace "#include <iostream.h>" with "#include <iostream>".
  4. Compile with:
    g++ -I/usr/local/include/opencv \
        -L/usr/local/lib/ \
        -lopencv_core \
        -lopencv_highgui \
        -lopencv_imgproc \
        SSIM.cpp \
        -o ssim
  5. Enjoy using SSIM: ./ssim a-original.png a-modified.png

Comment via: substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Shoshannah Tekofsky on how AI agents suck at personality tests, don't express surprise, and lie to themselves

Can you introduce yourself for people who don’t know who you are?

via Thing of Things February 11, 2026

2025-26 New Year review

This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Highlights include a minimal group house, the usefulness…

via Victoria Krakovna January 19, 2026

Why I Don't Think My Braces Were Worth It

A couple weeks ago, I got my braces off. I kind of wish I had never had them, though. When I was younger, two of my teeth were sticking out, and they looked kind of funny. I thought that my teeth were just fine, and I didn't want to get braces. But s…

via Anna Wise's Blog Posts January 3, 2026

more     (via openring)