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Image MIME Reference
BMP

Windows Bitmap (Legacy Windows MIME Alias)

image/x-windows-bmp
VS

PCO B16 Image

image/vnd.pco.b16
PCO-B16

A complete technical comparison of Windows Bitmap (Legacy Windows MIME Alias) and PCO B16 Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

BMP wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature BMP PCO-B16
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
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 →
PCO B16 Image
image/vnd.pco.b16
Extension
.b16
Container PCO B16 Binary Container
Compression Uncompressed (Raw Sensor Data)
Algorithm
None
Color Depth 16-bit (Monochrome or Bayer Raw Color)
Developed by PCO AG (Excelitas PCO GmbH)
Released Early 2000s
Magic Bytes
50 43 4F 2D
Full PCO-B16 reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser BMP PCO-B16
Chrome Chrome
✓ 1
 ✕
Firefox Firefox
✓ 1
 ✕
Safari Safari
✓ 1
 ✕
Edge Edge
✓ 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
PCO-B16

PCO-B16 Strengths

  • Preserves exact, uncompressed 16-bit raw sensor data, which is critically important for accurate scientific measurements, fluorescence microscopy, and photometry
  • The simple, linear struct header is highly predictable and easy to parse in custom Python, MATLAB, or C++ scripts for researchers building bespoke pipelines
Limitations
  • Generates massive file sizes due to the complete lack of image compression [1.3.1]
  • Completely unsupported by standard operating systems, web browsers, and consumer image editing suites
  • Strictly tied to the hardware and software ecosystems of a single camera manufacturer

When to choose which format

BMP
Use BMP when…
  • Legacy Windows Desktop Registry Associations
  • Older Enterprise Intranet Applications
  • Windows Graphics Archival
PCO-B16
Use PCO-B16 when…
  • Microscopy and Life Sciences
  • High-Speed Camera Recording
  • Machine Vision and Industrial Inspection
  • Scientific Photometry

More comparisons

BMP vs ACES → PCO-B16 vs ACES → BMP vs APNG → PCO-B16 vs APNG → BMP vs AVCI → PCO-B16 vs AVCI → BMP vs AVCS → PCO-B16 vs AVCS → BMP vs AVIF → PCO-B16 vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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