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Image MIME Reference
Compressed-XCF

Compressed GIMP XCF Image

image/x-compressed-xcf
VS

Wireless Bitmap

image/vnd.wap.wbmp
WBMP

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

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Compressed-XCF WBMP
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 →
Wireless Bitmap
image/vnd.wap.wbmp
Extension
.wbmp
Container WBMP Type 0
Compression Uncompressed
Algorithm
None
Color Depth 1-bit (Monochrome)
Developed by WAP Forum (Now Open Mobile Alliance)
Released 1999
Magic Bytes
00 00
Full WBMP reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Compressed-XCF WBMP
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
WBMP

WBMP Strengths

  • Extremely low processing overhead made it perfectly suited for the ultra-low-power CPUs of late 1990s mobile devices
  • Tightly integrated into the WML (Wireless Markup Language) stack, enabling the first functional mobile internet experiences
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete and lacks support in modern operating systems and browsers
  • Limited entirely to 1-bit black and white (0 for black, 1 for white) with zero support for grayscale, color, or transparency
  • The lack of a strong file header signature makes automated MIME type detection highly unreliable

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
WBMP
Use WBMP when…
  • Legacy WML (Wireless Markup Language) Mobile Sites
  • Early Mobile Phone Icons and Operator Logos
  • Historical WAP Archival

More comparisons

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