Image MIME Reference
DNG
Adobe Digital Negative
image/x-adobe-dng
VS
JPEG Stereo Image
image/x-jps
JPS
A complete technical comparison of Adobe Digital Negative and JPEG Stereo Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.
JPS wins on browser support
Feature Support
| Feature | DNG | JPS |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | Yes | ✕ No |
| Animation Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Progressive Loading | ✕ No | Yes |
| HDR Support | Yes | ✕ No |
| EXIF Metadata | Yes | Yes |
| ICC Color Profile | Yes | Yes |
Adobe Digital Negative
image/x-adobe-dng
Extension
.dng
Container
TIFF/EP
Compression
Lossless JPEG / Deflate / Lossy JPEG (DNG 1.4+)
Algorithm
Lossless JPEG (Standard)Lossy JPEG (Compression option)Uncompressed
Color Depth
12-bit, 14-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit (Floating Point HDR)
Developed by
Adobe Systems
Released
2004
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00 or 4D 4D 00 2A
JPEG Stereo Image
image/x-jps
Extension
.jps
Container
JPEG (JFIF/Exif)
Compression
Lossy (JPEG/DCT)
Algorithm
JPEG (Discrete Cosine Transform)
Color Depth
8-bit (Grayscale), 24-bit (RGB)
Developed by
Stereoscopic Community (Unofficial Standard)
Released
1990
Magic Bytes
FF D8 FF
Browser Support Comparison
| Browser | DNG | JPS |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ |
✓ 1
|
Firefox
|
✕ |
✓ 1
|
Safari
|
✕ |
✓ 1
|
Edge
|
✕ |
✓ 12
|
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ |
✓
|
DNG
DNG Strengths
- Openly documented specification guarantees long-term archival accessibility, freeing photographers from proprietary manufacturer lock-in
- Lossless compression algorithms often result in files 15-20% smaller than uncompressed proprietary raw formats
- Natively supported by modern smartphone operating systems (iOS and Android) for high-end mobile photography
Limitations
- Conversion from proprietary raw to DNG takes processing time and can strip specific, proprietary manufacturer metadata (like active D-Lighting or in-camera lens corrections)
- File sizes are massive compared to standard JPEGs or HEIC files
- Cannot be rendered natively in web browsers without server-side processing or WebAssembly decoders
JPS
JPS Strengths
- 100% backward compatible with every standard 2D image viewer and web browser (which simply display the two halves side-by-side)
- Inherits JPEG's excellent lossy compression, resulting in small file sizes ideal for web transmission
- Extremely easy to generate programmatically by simply stitching two JPEG images side-by-side onto a wider canvas
Limitations
- Lack of a dedicated metadata standard means viewing software has to guess whether the layout is 'cross-eyed' (right eye left, left eye right) or 'parallel' (left eye left, right eye right), occasionally causing inverted depth
- Suffers from JPEG compression artifacts, which can break the stereoscopic illusion if compression noise differs between the left and right eyes
- Superseded in consumer electronics by the MPO (Multi-Picture Object) format, which stacks separate full-resolution JPEGs rather than squishing them side-by-side
When to choose which format
DNG
Use DNG when…
- Digital Photography Archival
- Mobile Raw Capture (iOS ProRAW / Android Camera2 API)
- Cross-Platform Raw Editing Workflows
JPS
Use JPS when…
- Stereoscopic 3D Photography
- Virtual Reality (VR) Image Galleries
- Cross-eye / Parallel Stereograms