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Image MIME Reference
Compressed-XCF

Compressed GIMP XCF Image

image/x-compressed-xcf
VS

Microsoft Document Imaging

image/vnd.ms-modi
MODI

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

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Compressed-XCF MODI
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
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 →
Microsoft Document Imaging
image/vnd.ms-modi
Extension
.mdi
Container TIFF Variant
Compression LZW / Proprietary MS Compression
Algorithm
LZW (Modified)
Color Depth 1-bit (Monochrome), 8-bit (Grayscale), 24-bit (RGB)
Developed by Microsoft Corporation
Released 2001
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00
Full MODI reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Compressed-XCF MODI
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
MODI

MODI Strengths

  • Historically provided an excellent all-in-one scanned document format with built-in OCR and annotations before PDF editing became universally accessible
  • Tightly integrated with Microsoft Office and SharePoint workflows in the early 2000s
Limitations
  • Completely proprietary and obsolete; Microsoft abandoned it in favor of standard TIFF and PDF
  • Causes widespread identification conflicts since its file signature is identical to a standard TIFF
  • Extremely difficult to open on modern operating systems without relying on third-party conversion utilities

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
MODI
Use MODI when…
  • Legacy Scanned Document Archival
  • Microsoft Office XP/2003/2007 Workflows
  • Embedded OCR Text Storage

More comparisons

Compressed-XCF vs ACES → MODI vs ACES → Compressed-XCF vs APNG → MODI vs APNG → Compressed-XCF vs AVCI → MODI vs AVCI → Compressed-XCF vs AVCS → MODI vs AVCS → Compressed-XCF vs AVIF → MODI vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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