Ani-ST vs WebP Format Comparison
image/x-ani-st
image/webp
A complete technical comparison of Ani ST Animation Script and WebP Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.
Feature Support
| Feature | Ani-ST | WebP |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | ✕ No | Yes |
| Animation Support | Yes | Yes |
| Progressive Loading | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| HDR Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| EXIF Metadata | ✕ No | Yes |
| ICC Color Profile | ✕ No | Yes |
image/x-ani-st
.scr.str
None
image/webp
.webp
VP8VP8L
Browser Support Comparison
| Browser | Ani-ST | WebP |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ |
✓ 32+
|
Firefox
|
✕ |
✓ 65+
|
Safari
|
✕ |
✓ 14+
|
Edge
|
✕ |
✓ 18+
|
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ | ✕ |
Ani-ST Strengths
- 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
- 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
WebP Strengths
- Superior lossy compression — 25–35% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality
- Supports both animation and full alpha transparency
- Lossless mode available with smaller file sizes than PNG
- Slower encoding than JPEG, especially for lossless
- Not supported in Internet Explorer or very old browsers
When to choose which format
- Atari ST Retrocomputing Archival
- Vector Animation Scripts
- 1980s Computer Graphics History
- Websites
- Ecommerce
- Mobile Apps
- CMS Images
Convert & Edit Online
Free online web tools for Ani-ST and WebP files.
Resize, scale, crop, and modify dimensions for any photo or graphic.
Clean EXIF, camera, lens, and location tags from your photos.
Convert modern web images to universal high-compatibility JPG.
Reduce image file sizes for faster web performance.
Convert WebP images to standard universal JPEG files in seconds.
Convert WebP to lossless PNG with full transparency preserved.
Convert raster WebP images into vector SVG graphics.
Generate multi-size Windows icon and favicon (.ico) files from WebP.
Export WebP images into printable PDF documents.