Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
Corel-CMX

Corel Metafile Exchange

image/x-cmx
VS

PaintShop Pro Image

image/x-paintshoppro
PaintShop-Pro-PSP

A complete technical comparison of Corel Metafile Exchange and PaintShop Pro Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Corel-CMX PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No Yes
EXIF Metadata ✕ No Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
Corel Metafile Exchange
image/x-cmx
Extension
.cmx
Container RIFF (Resource Interchange File Format)
Compression Uncompressed Vector Commands / Embedded Raster Compression (Optional)
Algorithm
None (Vector)
Color Depth Vector Data, Supports embedded bitmaps
Developed by Corel Corporation
Released Mid-1990s
Magic Bytes
52 49 46 46 (skip 4) 43 4D 58 31
Full Corel-CMX reference →
PaintShop Pro Image
image/x-paintshoppro
Extension
.psp.pspimage.tub.pat
Container PSP Chunk-based Format
Compression Uncompressed / RLE (Run-Length Encoding) / LZ77
Algorithm
RLELZ77
Color Depth 8-bit (Indexed), 16-bit (Grayscale), 24-bit (RGB), 32-bit (RGBA), 48-bit (High Color)
Developed by Jasc Software / Corel Corporation (Alludo)
Released 1990
Magic Bytes
7E 42 4B 00
Full PaintShop-Pro-PSP reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Corel-CMX PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
Corel-CMX

Corel-CMX Strengths

  • Preserves rich vector attributes and layer groupings native to the Corel drawing engine better than standard WMF files
  • Significantly smaller footprint than full CDR project files, making it excellent for early CD-ROM clip art distribution
  • Maintains decent support in the open-source community thanks to libraries like libcdr
Limitations
  • Proprietary format strictly tied to Corel's ecosystem, often causing compatibility issues with Adobe software
  • Zero support in web browsers; must be converted to SVG for modern web usage
  • Largely obsolete for modern workflows, superseded by PDF and SVG
PaintShop-Pro-PSP

PaintShop-Pro-PSP Strengths

  • Provides robust, non-destructive editing capabilities with full support for vector layers, adjustment layers, and layer blend modes
  • Historically offered a highly capable and affordable alternative to Adobe Photoshop's PSD format for Windows users
  • Features proprietary support for 'Picture Tubes' (.tub), a unique brush technology that paints sequential or random raster objects along a path
Limitations
  • Deeply proprietary format tied exclusively to the Corel/Alludo ecosystem
  • Third-party software support (like GIMP or ImageMagick) is often limited to parsing older .psp files, frequently failing to render complex layers in modern .pspimage files
  • No support in modern web browsers; must be exported to a flattened web format (JPEG/PNG) for online viewing

When to choose which format

Corel-CMX
Use Corel-CMX when…
  • Legacy CorelDRAW Clip Art Collections
  • Vector Graphic Exchange within Corel Suite
  • Historical Desktop Publishing Assets
PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Use PaintShop-Pro-PSP when…
  • PaintShop Pro Multi-layer Project Archival
  • Digital Art and Photo Retouching
  • Picture Tubes (.tub) and Custom Patterns (.pat)

More comparisons

Corel-CMX vs ACES → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs ACES → Corel-CMX vs APNG → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs APNG → Corel-CMX vs AVCI → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVCI → Corel-CMX vs AVCS → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVCS → Corel-CMX vs AVIF → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVIF → All comparisons →
Share this comparison