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Image MIME Reference
Corel-CMX

Corel Metafile Exchange

image/x-cmx
VS

Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)

image/x-tga
TGA

A complete technical comparison of Corel Metafile Exchange and Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias) — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Corel-CMX TGA
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
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 →
Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)
image/x-tga
Extension
.tga.icb.vda.vst
Container Truevision TGA Footer/Header
Compression Uncompressed / Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
Algorithm
NoneRLE
Color Depth 8-bit (Grayscale or Indexed), 16-bit (High Color), 24-bit (True Color), 32-bit (True Color with Alpha Channel)
Developed by Truevision Inc.
Released 1984
Magic Bytes
54 52 55 45 56 49 53 49 4F 4E 2D 58 46 49 4C 45 2E 00 (At the end of the file)
Full TGA reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Corel-CMX TGA
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  • Largely obsolete for modern workflows, superseded by PDF and SVG
TGA

TGA Strengths

  • Incredibly simple byte layout allows developers to write custom loaders and exporters in a few dozen lines of code, bypassing the need for heavy external libraries
  • Native support for 8-bit alpha channels ensures flawless transparency masking for real-time 3D rendering
  • Fast, predictable RLE decoding requires almost no CPU overhead compared to DEFLATE (PNG) or DCT (JPEG)
Limitations
  • RLE compression is relatively weak by modern standards, resulting in large file sizes
  • Lacks a standard magic byte header at the beginning of the file, making file-sniffing unreliable for older v1.0 files
  • Zero support in web browsers; must be converted to PNG or WebP for web delivery

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
TGA
Use TGA when…
  • Video Game 3D Textures and Materials
  • 3D Rendering and Animation Sequences
  • Legacy Video Production Workflows

More comparisons

Corel-CMX vs ACES → TGA vs ACES → Corel-CMX vs APNG → TGA vs APNG → Corel-CMX vs AVCI → TGA vs AVCI → Corel-CMX vs AVCS → TGA vs AVCS → Corel-CMX vs AVIF → TGA vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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