Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
Compressed-XCF

Compressed GIMP XCF Image

image/x-compressed-xcf
VS

JPEG XS Image

image/jxs
JPEG-XS

A complete technical comparison of Compressed GIMP XCF Image and JPEG XS Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Compressed-XCF JPEG-XS
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes Yes
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
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 XS Image
image/jxs
Extension
.jxs
Container ISOBMFF (ISO/IEC 21122-3) or Raw Codestream
Compression Lossy (Visually Lossless) / Mathematically Lossless
Algorithm
JPEG XS (Low-complexity wavelet transform)
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 14-bit, 16-bit
Developed by Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) / intoPIX
Released 2019
Magic Bytes
FF 10 (Codestream) / XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 6A 78 73 20 (ISOBMFF)
Full JPEG-XS reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Compressed-XCF JPEG-XS
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-XS

JPEG-XS Strengths

  • Provides sub-millisecond encoding/decoding latency, essential for live production and gaming
  • Extremely lightweight, requiring very little CPU, GPU, or FPGA memory to process
  • Replaces uncompressed video links (like SDI or HDMI) over standard Ethernet networks with visually lossless quality
Limitations
  • Compression ratios are typically much lower (between 2:1 and 10:1) compared to heavy codecs like HEVC or AV1
  • Zero support in web browsers or standard consumer devices
  • Primarily licensed to hardware manufacturers and professional software ecosystems

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-XS
Use JPEG-XS when…
  • Live Video Broadcasting (SMPTE ST 2110)
  • Video over IP Networks
  • Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality (VR/AR)
  • Automotive & Drone Cameras

More comparisons

Compressed-XCF vs ACES → JPEG-XS vs ACES → Compressed-XCF vs APNG → JPEG-XS vs APNG → Compressed-XCF vs AVCI → JPEG-XS vs AVCI → Compressed-XCF vs AVCS → JPEG-XS vs AVCS → Compressed-XCF vs AVIF → JPEG-XS vs AVIF → All comparisons →
Share this comparison