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Ani-ST

Ani ST Animation Script MIME Type Reference

image/x-ani-st Released 1987 · by Jim Kent (Published by Antic Software)

The Ani ST format is a legacy animation scripting language and vector graphics format developed in 1987 by Jim Kent for the Atari ST computer. Unlike traditional raster animations that store pixel grids frame-by-frame, Ani ST files are human-readable, plain-text files containing vector commands. These scripts instruct the software how to generate geometric polygons, apply color palettes, and calculate morphing sequences to produce animations. It is completely obsolete and primarily encountered today in retrocomputing archival contexts.

Legacy & Specialized Formats Animation Production Ready

Technical Specifications

MIME Type
image/x-ani-st
Extensions
.scr.str
Container
Text-based Scripting Language
Compression
Uncompressed (Plain Text Script)
Algorithms
None
Color Depth
Atari ST Indexed Palette (up to 16 colors)
Metadata
None
Capabilities
Transparency
Animation
Progressive Loading
Alpha Channel
HDR Support
Official Specification
Aliases: text/plain

Magic Bytes & HTTP Headers

File Signature (Magic Bytes)
HTTP Headers
Content-Type: image/x-ani-st
HTML Accept Attribute
accept="image/x-ani-st, .scr, .str"

Browser Support Matrix

Browser Status Min Version
Chrome Chrome
Not Supported
Firefox Firefox
Not Supported
Safari Safari
Not Supported
Edge Edge
Not Supported
Internet Explorer Internet Explorer
Not Supported Legacy

Advantages & Limitations

Advantages
  • Produced incredibly small file sizes by storing rendering instructions (vectors) rather than raw raster frames, making it ideal for floppy disks
  • The human-readable script format allowed advanced users to manually edit animation paths and parameters directly in a text editor
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete and inherently tied to the hardware limitations of the Atari ST ecosystem
  • The generic .scr and .str extensions conflict with dozens of other historical and modern formats, making file identification a major challenge
  • Zero native support in modern operating systems, web browsers, or standard graphics software

Developer Code Snippets

import magic
# Because it is a text-based script, Libmagic will typically classify it as text
print(magic.from_file('animation.scr', mime=True)) # Likely outputs 'text/plain'
const fs = require('fs');
// Binary file detection libraries will fail because Ani ST is plain text.
// You must read the file as a string and parse it for Ani ST scripting syntax.
const content = fs.readFileSync('animation.scr', 'utf8');
console.log('File Content (Text):', content.substring(0, 50));
import "net/http"

// Go's DetectContentType function will analyze the ASCII content and classify it as text
mimeType := http.DetectContentType(fileBytes)
fmt.Println(mimeType) // Outputs: 'text/plain; charset=utf-8'
$mime = mime_content_type('animation.scr');
echo $mime; // Standard PHP setups will return 'text/plain' or misidentify it based on the generic extension

File Detection Steps

How to programmatically detect a image/x-ani-st file by reading its raw bytes:

  1. 1 Ani ST files lack a binary magic number because they are plain-text ASCII files containing custom vector animation scripting commands.
  2. 2 Programmatic detection requires parsing the text file for specific Ani ST command syntax rather than relying on standard magic byte libraries.
  3. 3 MIME sniffing strictly by extension (.scr or .str) is notoriously unreliable and will likely misidentify the file as a Windows Screensaver or dBASE structure.

Software Support

A
Ani ST (via Atari ST Emulators like Hatari)
A
Abydos (Format analysis tool)

Free Online Tools for Ani-ST

Ani-ST Format Comparisons

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JSON API

All data on this page is available as a free, open JSON API. Use it in your project, documentation, or tooling.

GET https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/ani-st.json Open JSON
Free to use
No auth required
CORS enabled
Use from any domain
Cached 24h
Cache-Control headers set

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the magic byte for image/x-ani-st?

Because Ani ST files are human-readable plain-text scripts containing vector commands, they do not possess a binary magic number or fixed hexadecimal signature.

Is image/x-ani-st supported in modern web browsers?

No. Ani ST is an obsolete, platform-specific scripting format from 1987. Modern browsers cannot parse or render its custom Atari ST vector commands.

Why does my Ani ST file have a .scr or .str extension?

Ani ST used .scr (script) and .str (string/structure) for its human-readable animation files. These extensions are highly generic and conflict heavily with Windows Screensavers (.scr) and dBASE structure files (.str).

Related Formats

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