Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
ACES

ACES Image Container File

image/aces
VS

SealedMedia SoftSeal JPEG

image/vnd.sealedmedia.softseal.jpg
SoftSeal-JPEG

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

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature ACES SoftSeal-JPEG
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
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 →
SealedMedia SoftSeal JPEG
image/vnd.sealedmedia.softseal.jpg
Extension
.sjpg.sealed-jpg.sealed-jpeg
Container SealedMedia SoftSeal Wrapper
Compression Encrypted Payload (DCT)
Algorithm
AES EncryptionDiscrete Cosine Transform (Internal JPEG payload)
Color Depth Encrypted Payload (Historically 24-bit RGB)
Developed by SealedMedia (Acquired by Oracle Corporation)
Released Late 1990s
Magic Bytes
Unknown (Proprietary SealedMedia Container)
Full SoftSeal-JPEG reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser ACES SoftSeal-JPEG
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
SoftSeal-JPEG

SoftSeal-JPEG Strengths

  • Offered persistent document security; if a sensitive photo was emailed outside the company, it remained encrypted and unviewable without server authentication
  • Administrators possessed the ability to remotely revoke viewing rights to a specific image globally at any time
Limitations
  • Completely proprietary and relies on a central authentication server; if the server goes offline or the product is deprecated, the image is permanently inaccessible
  • Zero support in modern operating systems, web browsers, or standard image editing suites without heavy enterprise client installations
  • Oracle effectively discontinued the IRM product line, stranding many legacy sealed documents

When to choose which format

ACES
Use ACES when…
  • Visual Effects (VFX)
  • Digital Intermediate (DI)
  • Color Grading
  • Archival
SoftSeal-JPEG
Use SoftSeal-JPEG when…
  • Enterprise Information Rights Management (IRM)
  • Secure Distribution of Sensitive Photography
  • Revocable Corporate Document Access

More comparisons

ACES vs APNG → SoftSeal-JPEG vs APNG → ACES vs AVCI → SoftSeal-JPEG vs AVCI → ACES vs AVCS → SoftSeal-JPEG vs AVCS → ACES vs AVIF → SoftSeal-JPEG vs AVIF → All comparisons →
Share this comparison