CMU Window Manager Raster
image/x-cmu-raster
Released 1980s
· by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
The image/x-cmu-raster MIME type represents the CMU Raster format, an early digital image format created at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the 1980s. It served as the native bitmap graphic format for the CMU Window Manager and the Andrew User Interface System (AUIS)—a pioneering, joint academic computing project between CMU and IBM. Designed for the UNIX workstations of the era, the format is a highly simplified, uncompressed raster image, typically storing 1-bit monochrome pixel data. It is now completely obsolete and encountered almost exclusively in historical UNIX archives.
Technical Specifications
.ras
None
image/cmu-raster
Magic Bytes & HTTP Headers
\xF1\x00\x40\xBB
Browser Support Matrix
| Browser | Status | Min Version |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Not Supported | — |
|
|
Not Supported | — |
|
|
Not Supported | — |
|
|
Not Supported | — |
|
|
Not Supported | Legacy |
Advantages & Limitations
- Incredibly simple, uncompressed binary structure that was easy for early, memory-constrained UNIX workstations to parse and render
- Completely obsolete and unsupported outside of niche historical command-line tools like Netpbm
- The shared '.ras' file extension causes frequent file misidentification and system conflicts
- Lacks all modern imaging features, including metadata, compression, and alpha channel transparency
Developer Code Snippets
File Detection Steps
How to programmatically detect a image/x-cmu-raster
file by reading its raw bytes:
- 1 Check the first 4 bytes for the CMU Window Manager magic number (Hex: F1 00 40 BB).
- 2 Because the .ras extension is widely shared with the Sun Raster format (Magic Bytes: 59 A6 6A 95), checking the file header is absolutely mandatory to differentiate between the two.
Software Support
ImageMagick
Conversion Tools
Share & Embed
[](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/cmu-raster)
<iframe src="https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/cmu-raster/embed" width="100%" height="280" style="border:1px solid #cbd5e1;border-radius:8px;" title="CMU-Raster Specs"></iframe>
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/cmu-raster.json
Open JSON
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a CMU Raster file?
A CMU Raster file is a legacy, uncompressed image format from the 1980s. It was used primarily by the Carnegie Mellon University Window Manager and the Andrew Toolkit to render basic graphics on early UNIX workstations.
Why is my .ras file opening as a Sun Raster image instead?
The '.ras' file extension is heavily overloaded in legacy computing. It is most famously associated with Sun Microsystems' Sun Raster format. Because the CMU Raster format is practically extinct, modern software and operating systems will almost always assume a '.ras' file belongs to the Sun ecosystem.
How do I view or convert a CMU Raster image today?
Modern web browsers and consumer image viewers cannot open CMU Raster files. You must use legacy command-line image processing suites like Netpbm (specifically the 'cmuwmtopbm' command) or ImageMagick to convert them into modern formats like PNG or JPEG.