{"id":"image-x-ani-st","mimeType":"image/x-ani-st","name":"Ani ST Animation Script","shortName":"Ani-ST","category":"Legacy \u0026 Specialized Formats","extensions":[".scr",".str"],"description":"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.","seo":{"title":"image/x-ani-st MIME Type: Ani-ST Specs, Headers \u0026 Signatures","description":"Technical developer guide for image/x-ani-st (.scr, .str): file signatures, magic bytes, HTTP headers, software support, and code implementation snippets.","faqs":[{"question":"What is the magic byte for image/x-ani-st?","answer":"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."},{"question":"Is image/x-ani-st supported in modern web browsers?","answer":"No. Ani ST is an obsolete, platform-specific scripting format from 1987. Modern browsers cannot parse or render its custom Atari ST vector commands."},{"question":"Why does my Ani ST file have a .scr or .str extension?","answer":"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)."}]},"index":{"compression":["Uncompressed (Plain Text Script)"],"browserSupport":{"score":1,"label":"None"},"commonUses":["Atari ST Retrocomputing Archival","Vector Animation Scripts","1980s Computer Graphics History"]},"technical":{"magicBytes":{"hex":"","ascii":""},"container":"Text-based Scripting Language","compressionAlgorithm":["None"],"colorDepth":["Atari ST Indexed Palette (up to 16 colors)"],"transparency":false,"animation":true,"metadata":{"exif":false,"xmp":false,"iccProfile":false},"alphaChannel":false,"progressiveLoading":false,"hdrSupport":false},"history":{"developer":"Jim Kent (Published by Antic Software)","released":"1987","specification":"Proprietary (Atari ST ecosystem)"},"browserSupport":{"chrome":false,"chromeVersion":"None","firefox":false,"firefoxVersion":"None","safari":false,"safariVersion":"None","edge":false,"edgeVersion":"None","internetExplorer":false},"softwareSupport":[{"name":"Ani ST (via Atari ST Emulators like Hatari)","logo":""},{"name":"Abydos (Format analysis tool)","logo":""}],"conversion":{"convertTo":["txt"],"convertFrom":[]},"developer":{"httpHeaders":[{"header":"Content-Type","value":"image/x-ani-st"}],"htmlAccept":"image/x-ani-st, .scr, .str","fileDetection":["Ani ST files lack a binary magic number because they are plain-text ASCII files containing custom vector animation scripting commands.","Programmatic detection requires parsing the text file for specific Ani ST command syntax rather than relying on standard magic byte libraries.","MIME sniffing strictly by extension (.scr or .str) is notoriously unreliable and will likely misidentify the file as a Windows Screensaver or dBASE structure."]},"prosCons":{"pros":["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"],"cons":["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"]},"specifications":{"url":"https://www.atarimania.com/games/atari-st-utilities-ani-st-30635","rfc":"","mimeAliases":["text/plain"]},"developerSnippets":{"python":"import magic\n# Because it is a text-based script, Libmagic will typically classify it as text\nprint(magic.from_file('animation.scr', mime=True)) # Likely outputs 'text/plain'","nodejs":"const fs = require('fs');\n// Binary file detection libraries will fail because Ani ST is plain text.\n// You must read the file as a string and parse it for Ani ST scripting syntax.\nconst content = fs.readFileSync('animation.scr', 'utf8');\nconsole.log('File Content (Text):', content.substring(0, 50));","go":"import \"net/http\"\n\n// Go's DetectContentType function will analyze the ASCII content and classify it as text\nmimeType := http.DetectContentType(fileBytes)\nfmt.Println(mimeType) // Outputs: 'text/plain; charset=utf-8'","php":"$mime = mime_content_type('animation.scr');\necho $mime; // Standard PHP setups will return 'text/plain' or misidentify it based on the generic extension"},"relatedFormats":["svg","gif","apng","cur"]}