Free webp to jpg
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Image MIME Reference
APNG

Animated Portable Network Graphics

image/vnd.mozilla.apng
VS

Network FlashPix

image/vnd.net-fpx
Net-FPX

A complete technical comparison of Animated Portable Network Graphics and Network FlashPix — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

APNG wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature APNG Net-FPX
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading Yes Yes
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
Animated Portable Network Graphics
image/vnd.mozilla.apng
Extension
.apng.png
Container PNG Chunk Stream
Compression Deflate (Lossless)
Algorithm
Deflate (zlib)
Color Depth 8-bit (Indexed), 24-bit (TrueColor), 32-bit (RGBA)
Developed by Mozilla Corporation (Stuart Parmenter & Vladimir Vukićević)
Released 2004
Magic Bytes
89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A
Full APNG reference →
Network FlashPix
image/vnd.net-fpx
Extension
.fpx
Container Microsoft OLE Structured Storage (COM)
Compression JPEG (Lossy) / Uncompressed / Single-color (Solid)
Algorithm
JPEGNone
Color Depth 8-bit (Grayscale/Indexed), 24-bit (RGB), 32-bit (CMYK/RGBA)
Developed by Digital Imaging Group (Kodak, HP, Live Picture, Microsoft)
Released 1996
Magic Bytes
D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1
Full Net-FPX reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser APNG Net-FPX
Chrome Chrome
✓ 59
 ✕
Firefox Firefox
✓ 3
 ✕
Safari Safari
✓ 8
 ✕
Edge Edge
✓ 79
 ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
APNG

APNG Strengths

  • Supports 8-bit alpha transparency, completely solving the ugly 'white halo' problem inherent to GIFs
  • Gracefully degrades; viewers that do not support APNG will render a perfectly valid, static PNG of the first frame
  • Provides lossless compression that retains absolute pixel-perfect quality for UI elements and line art
Limitations
  • Because it relies on lossless Deflate compression, file sizes for complex, video-like animations can be massive compared to lossy formats like WebP or AVIF
  • Was initially rejected by the official PNG group, delaying its adoption for nearly a decade
  • Lacks native hardware decoding acceleration, unlike video-based animated formats (like MP4 or WebM)
Net-FPX

Net-FPX Strengths

  • Revolutionized web imaging in the late 1990s by proving that massive gigapixel images could be navigated seamlessly over 56k dial-up modems
  • Pioneered the tile-based, multi-resolution pyramid concepts that eventually evolved into modern standards like IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework)
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete, having been replaced by standard JPEG servers and modern tiling formats like Deep Zoom or JPEG 2000/XR
  • Relied on proprietary Java applets or ActiveX controls to render the tiles dynamically in a web browser
  • Extremely complex to parse server-side due to the heavy OLE filesystem container

When to choose which format

APNG
Use APNG when…
  • High-Quality Web Animations
  • Stickers (Apple iMessage, LINE, Discord)
  • UI Loaders with Alpha Transparency
  • GIF Replacement
Net-FPX
Use Net-FPX when…
  • Historical Internet Imaging Protocol (IIP) Streaming
  • Early E-Commerce Deep Zoom Implementations
  • Legacy High-Resolution Image Servers

More comparisons

APNG vs ACES → Net-FPX vs ACES → APNG vs AVCI → Net-FPX vs AVCI → APNG vs AVCS → Net-FPX vs AVCS → APNG vs AVIF → Net-FPX vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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