{"id":"image-x-alias-pix","mimeType":"image/x-alias-pix","name":"Alias PIX Image","shortName":"Alias-PIX","category":"3D Graphics \u0026 Legacy","extensions":[".pix",".als",".alias",".img"],"description":"The image/x-alias-pix MIME type represents the Alias PIX raster image format, developed in the early 1990s by Alias Research (which later became Alias|Wavefront and was eventually acquired by Autodesk). It was primarily used as a rendering output and texturing format for early high-end 3D graphics software, such as Alias PowerAnimator, which famously ran on Silicon Graphics (SGI) workstations. The format uses a highly simplified 10-byte header without a dedicated magic string, followed immediately by run-length encoded (RLE) 24-bit RGB pixel data. It is now completely obsolete.","seo":{"title":"image/x-alias-pix MIME Type | Developer Reference for Alias PIX","description":"Complete reference for the image/x-alias-pix MIME type: Alias|Wavefront PIX format, 3D rendering history, RLE compression, and lack of magic bytes.","faqs":[{"question":"What is an Alias PIX file?","answer":"An Alias PIX file is a legacy raster image format created by Alias Research in the early 1990s. It was primarily used to store texture maps and rendered frame outputs in high-end 3D graphics software, such as Alias PowerAnimator."},{"question":"Why does my computer struggle to identify .pix files?","answer":"The .pix file extension is heavily overloaded and used by many different legacy and niche programs (such as PCI Geomatica). Furthermore, the Alias PIX format lacks a definitive 'magic byte' string in its header, making it extremely difficult for operating systems and automated tools to reliably identify it without manual inspection."},{"question":"Can I open an Alias PIX file in Photoshop?","answer":"Native support for Alias PIX in modern consumer image editors is virtually non-existent. To view or edit the image, you will likely need to convert it to a standard format (like PNG or TIFF) using a command-line utility like ImageMagick or a dedicated legacy image viewer like XnView."}]},"index":{"compression":["Run-Length Encoding (RLE)"],"browserSupport":{"score":1,"label":"None"},"commonUses":["Legacy Alias PowerAnimator Textures","1990s SGI Workstation Render Outputs","Historical 3D Graphics Archival"]},"technical":{"magicBytes":{"hex":"No explicit magic bytes (Relies on 10-byte integer header)","ascii":"None"},"container":"Alias PIX Header","compressionAlgorithm":["RLE"],"colorDepth":["24-bit (RGB)","8-bit (Matte/Grayscale variant)"],"transparency":false,"animation":false,"metadata":{"exif":false,"xmp":false,"iccProfile":false},"alphaChannel":false,"progressiveLoading":false,"hdrSupport":false},"history":{"developer":"Alias Research (Later Alias|Wavefront / Autodesk)","released":"Early 1990s","specification":"Autodesk Legacy Documentation"},"browserSupport":{"chrome":false,"chromeVersion":"None","firefox":false,"firefoxVersion":"None","safari":false,"safariVersion":"None","edge":false,"edgeVersion":"None","internetExplorer":false},"softwareSupport":[{"name":"ImageMagick","logo":"image-magic.webp"},{"name":"XnView","logo":""},{"name":"Autodesk Maya (Legacy Support)","logo":""}],"conversion":{"convertTo":["png","jpeg","tiff","tga"],"convertFrom":[]},"developer":{"httpHeaders":[{"header":"Content-Type","value":"image/x-alias-pix"}],"htmlAccept":"None","fileDetection":["Alias PIX files do not contain a standard magic byte string. The file begins directly with a 10-byte header composed of five 16-bit short integers.","The first two integers represent width and height. The fifth integer (bytes 8 and 9) specifies the bit depth, which is strictly 24 (Hex: 00 18) for PIX files or 8 (Hex: 00 08) for Matte masks.","Because of the lack of a strong signature and the heavily overloaded .pix extension, MIME detection libraries frequently misidentify these files or fall back to application/octet-stream."]},"prosCons":{"pros":["The highly simplified structure made it incredibly fast to encode and decode on early 1990s SGI hardware","Lossless Run-Length Encoding (RLE) saved disk space without degrading the quality of final 3D renders"],"cons":["Completely obsolete, having been replaced by more robust formats like TIFF, TGA, and EXR in modern 3D pipelines","The lack of a distinct magic byte signature makes reliable automated file detection almost impossible","Does not support integrated alpha channels, instead requiring cumbersome, separate 'Matte' files to denote transparency"]},"specifications":{"url":"http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/wiki/Alias_PIX","rfc":"","mimeAliases":["image/aliasPIX","image/x-alias"]},"developerSnippets":{"python":"import magic\nimport struct\n\n# Libmagic usually fails to identify Alias PIX, defaulting to 'application/octet-stream'.\nprint(magic.from_file('render.pix', mime=True))\n\n# Manual header check:\nwith open('render.pix', 'rb') as f:\n    header = f.read(10)\n    if len(header) == 10:\n        width, height, xoff, yoff, bpp = struct.unpack('\u003ehhhhh', header)\n        is_pix = (bpp == 24) # 24-bit RGB PIX\n        print('Is Alias PIX:', is_pix)","nodejs":"const fs = require('fs');\n// Alias PIX lacks magic bytes. Check the 10-byte header manually for the bit-depth flag.\nconst buffer = Buffer.alloc(10);\nconst fd = fs.openSync('render.pix', 'r');\nfs.readSync(fd, buffer, 0, 10, 0);\nfs.closeSync(fd);\n// Check if bytes 8 and 9 indicate 24-bit color (0x0018)\nconst isAliasPix = buffer[8] === 0x00 \u0026\u0026 buffer[9] === 0x18;\nconsole.log('Is Alias PIX:', isAliasPix);","go":"import (\n    \"bytes\"\n    \"net/http\"\n)\n// http.DetectContentType cannot detect Alias PIX natively.\n// A custom check on the 10-byte header is required to verify the bit-depth flag at offset 8.\n// isAliasPix := len(buf) \u003e= 10 \u0026\u0026 buf[8] == 0x00 \u0026\u0026 buf[9] == 0x18","php":"$mime = mime_content_type('render.pix');\necho $mime; // Without a magic signature, standard PHP setups will resolve this to 'application/octet-stream' or falsely map the extension."},"relatedFormats":["tga","tiff","exr"]}