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Image MIME Reference
ACES

ACES Image Container File

image/aces
VS

QuickTime Image Format

image/x-quicktime
QTIF

A complete technical comparison of ACES Image Container File and QuickTime Image Format — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature ACES QTIF
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No ✕ No
ICC Color Profile ✕ No ✕ No
ACES Image Container File
image/aces
Extension
.exr
Container OpenEXR (SMPTE ST 2065-4)
Compression Lossless / Uncompressed
Algorithm
PIZZIPRLEB44Uncompressed
Color Depth 16-bit (Half-float), 32-bit (Float)
Developed by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) / SMPTE
Released 2013
Magic Bytes
76 2F 31 01
Full ACES reference →
QuickTime Image Format
image/x-quicktime
Extension
.qtif.qti.qif
Container QuickTime Atom Container
Compression Varies (JPEG, SMC, Apple Video, Cinepak, Uncompressed)
Algorithm
QuickTime Image Compression Manager (ICM) Codecs
Color Depth 1-bit to 32-bit (Varies depending on the enclosed codec)
Developed by Apple Computer, Inc.
Released 1991
Magic Bytes
Varies (Typically begins with a 32-bit size integer followed by 69 64 73 63 ('idsc'))
Full QTIF reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser ACES QTIF
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
ACES

ACES Strengths

  • Industry standard for high-end visual effects, compositing, and color grading
  • Supports 16-bit half-float data, accurately capturing immense dynamic range without clipping
  • Standardized by SMPTE (ST 2065-4) to guarantee universal color interoperability across different post-production facilities
Limitations
  • Considerably larger file sizes than conventional consumer image formats
  • Completely unsupported in web browsers and most standard desktop viewers
  • Requires specialized compositing or color grading software to interpret and view the scene-linear data correctly
QTIF

QTIF Strengths

  • Extremely flexible architecture allowing it to encapsulate virtually any image compression algorithm available on the host machine
  • Supported 32-bit images with alpha channels (transparency) long before PNG became an established standard
Limitations
  • Fundamentally tied to Apple's deprecated QuickTime architecture, rendering the files almost entirely unreadable on modern systems without specialized legacy software or FFmpeg
  • The 'wrapper' nature of the format means that even if a parser can read the QTIF container, it may fail to render the image if it lacks the specific proprietary codec (like Apple SMC) used to compress the pixel data
  • Zero native support in modern web browsers

When to choose which format

ACES
Use ACES when…
  • Visual Effects (VFX)
  • Digital Intermediate (DI)
  • Color Grading
  • Archival
QTIF
Use QTIF when…
  • Classic Mac OS Applications and Backgrounds
  • QuickTime VR Panorama Textures
  • 1990s CD-ROM Multimedia Assets

More comparisons

ACES vs APNG → QTIF vs APNG → ACES vs AVCI → QTIF vs AVCI → ACES vs AVCS → QTIF vs AVCS → ACES vs AVIF → QTIF vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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