Image MIME Reference
AOL-ART
AOL ART Image
image/x-jg
VS
SealedMedia SoftSeal JPEG
image/vnd.sealedmedia.softseal.jpg
SoftSeal-JPEG
A complete technical comparison of AOL ART Image and SealedMedia SoftSeal JPEG — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.
Equal browser support
Feature Support
| Feature | AOL-ART | SoftSeal-JPEG |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Animation Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Progressive Loading | Yes | ✕ No |
| HDR Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| EXIF Metadata | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| ICC Color Profile | ✕ No | ✕ No |
AOL ART Image
image/x-jg
Extension
.art
Container
Johnson-Grace Proprietary
Compression
Proprietary Wavelet (Photos) / Proprietary Palette-based (Graphics)
Algorithm
Wavelet (similar to early JPEG 2000 concepts)Lossy DCT
Color Depth
8-bit (Indexed), 24-bit (RGB)
Developed by
Johnson-Grace Company (Acquired by AOL)
Released
1994
Magic Bytes
4A 47 03 00 or 4A 47 04 00
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)
Browser Support Comparison
| Browser | AOL-ART | SoftSeal-JPEG |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ | ✕ |
Firefox
|
✕ | ✕ |
Safari
|
✕ | ✕ |
Edge
|
✕ | ✕ |
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ | ✕ |
AOL-ART
AOL-ART Strengths
- Historically provided massive file size reductions (up to 3x smaller than JPEGs of the era) and highly optimized progressive rendering for 14.4k modems
- Enabled faster web browsing on the AOL network during the early days of the commercial internet
Limitations
- Completely proprietary, heavily patent-encumbered, and never officially reverse-engineered for the open-source community
- On-the-fly proxy compression ruined the visual fidelity of many 1990s websites for AOL users
- Virtually impossible to open on modern operating systems without installing niche, legacy image viewers
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
AOL-ART
Use AOL-ART when…
- Historical AOL Dial-up Web Browsing
- Legacy America Online Client Assets
- 1990s Internet Archival
SoftSeal-JPEG
Use SoftSeal-JPEG when…
- Enterprise Information Rights Management (IRM)
- Secure Distribution of Sensitive Photography
- Revocable Corporate Document Access