Free webp to jpg
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Image MIME Reference
BMP

Windows Bitmap (Legacy Windows MIME Alias)

image/x-windows-bmp
VS

JPEG Image

image/jpeg
JPEG

A complete technical comparison of Windows Bitmap (Legacy Windows MIME Alias) and JPEG Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature BMP JPEG
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No Yes
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
Windows Bitmap (Legacy Windows MIME Alias)
image/x-windows-bmp
Extension
.bmp.dib
Container DIB (Device-Independent Bitmap)
Compression Uncompressed / Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
Algorithm
NoneRLE4RLE8
Color Depth 1-bit (Monochrome), 4-bit (16 colors), 8-bit (256 colors), 16-bit (High Color), 24-bit (True Color), 32-bit (True Color with Alpha)
Developed by Microsoft Corporation
Released 1985
Magic Bytes
42 4D
Full BMP reference →
JPEG Image
image/jpeg
Extension
.jpg.jpeg.jpe.jfif
Container JFIF / Exif
Compression Lossy
Algorithm
DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform)
Color Depth 8-bit
Developed by Joint Photographic Experts Group
Released 1992
Magic Bytes
FF D8 FF
Full JPEG reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser BMP JPEG
Chrome Chrome
✓ 1
✓ All
Firefox Firefox
✓ 1
✓ All
Safari Safari
✓ 1
✓ All
Edge Edge
✓ 12
✓ All
IE IE (Legacy)
✓
✓
BMP

BMP Strengths

  • Universally supported by all major operating systems and modern web browsers
  • Maintains perfect, lossless fidelity because pixel data is stored without lossy compression artifacts
Limitations
  • Massive file size overhead due to a lack of modern compression algorithms
  • Legacy MIME strings like 'image/x-windows-bmp' can trigger validation warnings in strict security or API environments if unhandled
JPEG

JPEG Strengths

  • Universal support — every browser, OS, and application handles JPEG
  • Excellent compression for complex photographs with natural color gradients
  • Rich metadata support: EXIF (GPS, camera settings), ICC color profiles
Limitations
  • No transparency — cannot have a transparent background
  • Lossy compression introduces visible artifacts on sharp edges and text
  • No animation support

When to choose which format

BMP
Use BMP when…
  • Legacy Windows Desktop Registry Associations
  • Older Enterprise Intranet Applications
  • Windows Graphics Archival
JPEG
Use JPEG when…
  • Photography
  • Websites
  • Social Media
  • Print

More comparisons

BMP vs ACES → JPEG vs ACES → BMP vs APNG → JPEG vs APNG → BMP vs AVCI → JPEG vs AVCI → BMP vs AVCS → JPEG vs AVCS → BMP vs AVIF → JPEG vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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