COGs with 15 BitsPerSample

[Martin (mhungen)]

Some COGs on Planetary Computer seem to be encoded with 15 bits per sample.
For example this one: T32UQV_20250130T102159_B04_10m.tif

I assume this is just a measurement for storage efficiency (I'm also impressed that TIFF supports this at all).
However, older images still use 16 fps (and some of the newer images as well).

Will 15 Bps become the default for new images?
Perhaps the change in the L2A pipeline is the main reason for this...
I wonder how much storage capacity you will be able to save with this measure...

I ask because some of our older applications (Java + Geotools) can't handle these images.
However, GDAL has no problem with them and there is a GDAL plugin for Geotools that we could use.