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Image MIME Reference
CMU-Raster

CMU Window Manager Raster

image/x-cmu-raster
VS

SealedMedia SoftSeal JPEG

image/vnd.sealedmedia.softseal.jpg
SoftSeal-JPEG

A complete technical comparison of CMU Window Manager Raster and SealedMedia SoftSeal JPEG — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature CMU-Raster SoftSeal-JPEG
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No ✕ No
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 →
SealedMedia SoftSeal JPEG
image/vnd.sealedmedia.softseal.jpg
Extension
.sjpg.sealed-jpg.sealed-jpeg
Container SealedMedia SoftSeal Wrapper
Compression Encrypted Payload (DCT)
Algorithm
AES EncryptionDiscrete Cosine Transform (Internal JPEG payload)
Color Depth Encrypted Payload (Historically 24-bit RGB)
Developed by SealedMedia (Acquired by Oracle Corporation)
Released Late 1990s
Magic Bytes
Unknown (Proprietary SealedMedia Container)
Full SoftSeal-JPEG reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser CMU-Raster SoftSeal-JPEG
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
SoftSeal-JPEG

SoftSeal-JPEG Strengths

  • Offered persistent document security; if a sensitive photo was emailed outside the company, it remained encrypted and unviewable without server authentication
  • Administrators possessed the ability to remotely revoke viewing rights to a specific image globally at any time
Limitations
  • Completely proprietary and relies on a central authentication server; if the server goes offline or the product is deprecated, the image is permanently inaccessible
  • Zero support in modern operating systems, web browsers, or standard image editing suites without heavy enterprise client installations
  • Oracle effectively discontinued the IRM product line, stranding many legacy sealed documents

When to choose which format

CMU-Raster
Use CMU-Raster when…
  • Historical UNIX / Andrew Project Archival
  • Legacy Academic Computing Research
SoftSeal-JPEG
Use SoftSeal-JPEG when…
  • Enterprise Information Rights Management (IRM)
  • Secure Distribution of Sensitive Photography
  • Revocable Corporate Document Access

More comparisons

CMU-Raster vs ACES → SoftSeal-JPEG vs ACES → CMU-Raster vs APNG → SoftSeal-JPEG vs APNG → CMU-Raster vs AVCI → SoftSeal-JPEG vs AVCI → CMU-Raster vs AVCS → SoftSeal-JPEG vs AVCS → CMU-Raster vs AVIF → SoftSeal-JPEG vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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