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Image MIME Reference
BTIF

Bank Telecommunications Image Format

image/prs.btif
VS

JPEG 2000 Image (HEIF Container)

image/hej2k
HEJ2K

A complete technical comparison of Bank Telecommunications Image Format and JPEG 2000 Image (HEIF Container) — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature BTIF HEJ2K
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No Yes
HDR Support ✕ No Yes
EXIF Metadata ✕ No Yes
ICC Color Profile ✕ No Yes
Bank Telecommunications Image Format
image/prs.btif
Extension
.btif.btf
Container Proprietary Check Image Container
Compression Lossy (JPEG-based) / Lossless (TIFF-based)
Algorithm
JPEGTIFF-variant
Color Depth 1-bit (B&W), 8-bit (Grayscale)
Developed by NationsBank (Bank of America) / Ben Simon
Released 1998
Magic Bytes
Unknown (Proprietary container)
Full BTIF reference →
JPEG 2000 Image (HEIF Container)
image/hej2k
Extension
.hej2
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF (ISO/IEC 15444-16)
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
JPEG 2000HTJ2K
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 16-bit
Developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1 / ITU-T
Released 2019
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 6A 32 6B 69
Full HEJ2K reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser BTIF HEJ2K
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
BTIF

BTIF Strengths

  • Allowed early digital archiving and web-based transmission of cleared bank checks
  • Encapsulated both image data and ASCII transaction metadata in a single file
Limitations
  • Completely proprietary and obsolete format
  • Lacks native support in modern operating systems and image viewers
  • Requires legacy plugins or specialized bio-format readers (like ImageC) to decode
HEJ2K

HEJ2K Strengths

  • Brings the extensive capabilities of the HEIF container (like EXIF/XMP, thumbnails, and depth maps) to JPEG 2000
  • Supports mathematically lossless compression via wavelet transformation
  • High scalability and progressive decoding out of the box
Limitations
  • Extremely limited software support outside of niche industries
  • Zero native compatibility with web browsers
  • High computational complexity compared to simpler formats like JPEG or PNG

When to choose which format

BTIF
Use BTIF when…
  • Bank Check Archiving (Legacy)
  • Financial Transaction Records
HEJ2K
Use HEJ2K when…
  • Medical Imaging
  • Geospatial Data
  • Scientific Archiving

More comparisons

BTIF vs ACES → HEJ2K vs ACES → BTIF vs APNG → HEJ2K vs APNG → BTIF vs AVCI → HEJ2K vs AVCI → BTIF vs AVCS → HEJ2K vs AVCS → BTIF vs AVIF → HEJ2K vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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