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Image MIME Reference
CMU-Raster

CMU Window Manager Raster

image/x-cmu-raster
VS

Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) Graphic

image/vnd.dece.graphic
DECE-Graphic

A complete technical comparison of CMU Window Manager Raster and Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) Graphic — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature CMU-Raster DECE-Graphic
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No ✕ No
ICC Color Profile ✕ No ✕ No
CMU Window Manager Raster
image/x-cmu-raster
Extension
.ras
Container CMU Window Manager Bitmap
Compression Uncompressed
Algorithm
None
Color Depth 1-bit (Monochrome), 8-bit (Indexed/Grayscale)
Developed by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Released 1980s
Magic Bytes
F1 00 40 BB
Full CMU-Raster reference →
Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) Graphic
image/vnd.dece.graphic
Extension
.jpg.png.uvi
Container Standard JPEG/PNG within DECE CFF structures
Compression Lossy (JPEG) / Lossless (PNG)
Algorithm
DCT (JPEG)DEFLATE (PNG)
Color Depth 8-bit (RGB), 24-bit (RGB)
Developed by Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC
Released 2011
Magic Bytes
FF D8 FF (If JPEG) / 89 50 4E 47 (If PNG)
Full DECE-Graphic reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser CMU-Raster DECE-Graphic
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
CMU-Raster

CMU-Raster Strengths

  • Incredibly simple, uncompressed binary structure that was easy for early, memory-constrained UNIX workstations to parse and render
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete and unsupported outside of niche historical command-line tools like Netpbm
  • The shared '.ras' file extension causes frequent file misidentification and system conflicts
  • Lacks all modern imaging features, including metadata, compression, and alpha channel transparency
DECE-Graphic

DECE-Graphic Strengths

  • Allowed the UltraViolet DRM ecosystem to easily distinguish structural UI/cover graphic assets from actual encrypted video tracks in a Common File Format container
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete since the 2019 shutdown of UltraViolet
  • Unnecessary abstraction, as the underlying files were just standard JPEGs or PNGs
  • Causes modern strict MIME-type validators to fail if they rely on the Content-Type header

When to choose which format

CMU-Raster
Use CMU-Raster when…
  • Historical UNIX / Andrew Project Archival
  • Legacy Academic Computing Research
DECE-Graphic
Use DECE-Graphic when…
  • UltraViolet Movie Cover Art
  • Common File Format (CFF) Asset Manifests
  • Legacy DRM Ecosystems

More comparisons

CMU-Raster vs ACES → DECE-Graphic vs ACES → CMU-Raster vs APNG → DECE-Graphic vs APNG → CMU-Raster vs AVCI → DECE-Graphic vs AVCI → CMU-Raster vs AVCS → DECE-Graphic vs AVCS → CMU-Raster vs AVIF → DECE-Graphic vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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