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Image MIME Reference
BMP

Windows Bitmap (Legacy Windows MIME Alias)

image/x-windows-bmp
VS

JPEG Stereo Image

image/x-jps
JPS

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

BMP wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature BMP JPS
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 Stereo Image
image/x-jps
Extension
.jps
Container JPEG (JFIF/Exif)
Compression Lossy (JPEG/DCT)
Algorithm
JPEG (Discrete Cosine Transform)
Color Depth 8-bit (Grayscale), 24-bit (RGB)
Developed by Stereoscopic Community (Unofficial Standard)
Released 1990
Magic Bytes
FF D8 FF
Full JPS reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser BMP JPS
Chrome Chrome
✓ 1
✓ 1
Firefox Firefox
✓ 1
✓ 1
Safari Safari
✓ 1
✓ 1
Edge Edge
✓ 12
✓ 12
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
JPS

JPS Strengths

  • 100% backward compatible with every standard 2D image viewer and web browser (which simply display the two halves side-by-side)
  • Inherits JPEG's excellent lossy compression, resulting in small file sizes ideal for web transmission
  • Extremely easy to generate programmatically by simply stitching two JPEG images side-by-side onto a wider canvas
Limitations
  • Lack of a dedicated metadata standard means viewing software has to guess whether the layout is 'cross-eyed' (right eye left, left eye right) or 'parallel' (left eye left, right eye right), occasionally causing inverted depth
  • Suffers from JPEG compression artifacts, which can break the stereoscopic illusion if compression noise differs between the left and right eyes
  • Superseded in consumer electronics by the MPO (Multi-Picture Object) format, which stacks separate full-resolution JPEGs rather than squishing them side-by-side

When to choose which format

BMP
Use BMP when…
  • Legacy Windows Desktop Registry Associations
  • Older Enterprise Intranet Applications
  • Windows Graphics Archival
JPS
Use JPS when…
  • Stereoscopic 3D Photography
  • Virtual Reality (VR) Image Galleries
  • Cross-eye / Parallel Stereograms

More comparisons

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