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Image MIME Reference
Compressed-XCF

Compressed GIMP XCF Image

image/x-compressed-xcf
VS

JPEG XR Image Sequence (HEIF Container)

image/jxrs
JPEG-XR-Sequence

A complete technical comparison of Compressed GIMP XCF Image and JPEG XR Image Sequence (HEIF Container) — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Compressed-XCF JPEG-XR-Sequence
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes Yes
Progressive Loading ✕ No Yes
HDR Support Yes Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
Compressed GIMP XCF Image
image/x-compressed-xcf
Extension
.xcf.gz.xcf.bz2.xcfgz.xcfbz2
Container Gzip or Bzip2 Archive
Compression Gzip (Deflate) / Bzip2
Algorithm
DeflateBWT (Burrows-Wheeler)
Color Depth 8-bit (Per Channel), 16-bit (Integer/Floating Point), 32-bit (Integer/Floating Point)
Developed by The GIMP Team
Released 1995
Magic Bytes
1F 8B 08 (gzip) or 42 5A 68 (bzip2)
Full Compressed-XCF reference →
JPEG XR Image Sequence (HEIF Container)
image/jxrs
Extension
.jxrs
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF (ISO/IEC 23008-12 / Annex F of ITU-T T.832)
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
JPEG XR (Lapped Biorthogonal Transform)
Color Depth 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit (Float)
Developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1 / ITU-T
Released 2019
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 6A 78 72 53
Full JPEG-XR-Sequence reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Compressed-XCF JPEG-XR-Sequence
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
Compressed-XCF

Compressed-XCF Strengths

  • Drastically reduces the massive file sizes of standard XCF project files, saving significant disk space
  • Preserves 100% of the non-destructive editing data (layers, masks, paths, guides) from the GIMP workspace
  • Uses standard, universally supported compression algorithms (gzip/bzip2) meaning the archive can be rescued or extracted by standard OS tools if GIMP is unavailable
Limitations
  • Increases file load and save times due to the CPU overhead required to compress and decompress the massive pixel arrays
  • Impossible for automated tools to parse metadata or dimensions without first unarchiving the payload into memory
  • File extension combinations (.xcf.gz) can confuse basic MIME sniffers which stop reading at the .gz extension
JPEG-XR-Sequence

JPEG-XR-Sequence Strengths

  • Supports 32-bit floating point HDR color depths natively across an entire animation sequence
  • Combines the advanced coding efficiencies of JPEG XR with the sequence timing and metadata framework of HEIF
  • Shares frame data structures allowing for optimized storage of burst photography
Limitations
  • Extremely rare format with essentially no mainstream software adoption
  • Zero web browser support
  • Overshadowed heavily by HEVC (HEIC sequences) and AV1 (AVIF sequences) which offer superior compression and broader hardware decoding support

When to choose which format

Compressed-XCF
Use Compressed-XCF when…
  • GIMP Multi-layer Project Archival
  • Saving disk space for complex raster edits
  • Open-source graphic design workflows
JPEG-XR-Sequence
Use JPEG-XR-Sequence when…
  • Experimental Animation Workflows
  • HDR Burst Photography Archiving
  • Specialized Medical & Scientific Imaging

More comparisons

Compressed-XCF vs ACES → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs ACES → Compressed-XCF vs APNG → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs APNG → Compressed-XCF vs AVCI → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs AVCI → Compressed-XCF vs AVCS → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs AVCS → Compressed-XCF vs AVIF → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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