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Image MIME Reference
DPX

Digital Picture Exchange

image/dpx
VS

Panasonic RAW Image

image/x-panasonic-raw
Panasonic-RAW-(RW2)

A complete technical comparison of Digital Picture Exchange and Panasonic RAW Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature DPX Panasonic-RAW-(RW2)
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes Yes
EXIF Metadata ✕ No Yes
ICC Color Profile ✕ No Yes
Digital Picture Exchange
image/dpx
Extension
.dpx
Container DPX (SMPTE ST 268)
Compression Uncompressed / RLE (Rarely used)
Algorithm
Uncompressed
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit (Float)
Developed by SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers)
Released 1994
Magic Bytes
53 44 50 58 (Big-endian) / 58 50 44 53 (Little-endian)
Full DPX reference →
Panasonic RAW Image
image/x-panasonic-raw
Extension
.raw.rw2
Container TIFF-based (Proprietary)
Compression Uncompressed / Panasonic Proprietary Lossless
Algorithm
NoneProprietary Lossless
Color Depth 12-bit (Per Channel), 14-bit (Per Channel), 16-bit (Per Channel - High-res mode)
Developed by Panasonic Corporation
Released 2004
Magic Bytes
Older RAW: 49 49 2A 00 | Newer RW2: 49 49 55 00
Full Panasonic-RAW-(RW2) reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser DPX Panasonic-RAW-(RW2)
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
DPX

DPX Strengths

  • Industry standard for transferring uncompressed, high-fidelity film and VFX data
  • Rich industry-specific metadata including timecode, keykode, and film stock information
  • Supports logarithmic color spaces (LogC, Cineon) to preserve the massive dynamic range of film negatives
Limitations
  • Massive file sizes (e.g., a single 4K 10-bit frame is ~50MB, resulting in ~1.2GB per second at 24fps)
  • Zero native support in web browsers or consumer OS image viewers
  • Requires heavy-duty, fast storage infrastructure (RAID/NVMe) to playback in real-time
Panasonic-RAW-(RW2)

Panasonic-RAW-(RW2) Strengths

  • Retains maximum sensor data, allowing significant recovery of highlights and shadows compared to in-camera JPEGs
  • Modern RW2 files embed proprietary lens correction profiles (distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberration) that raw converters can automatically apply
  • The unique 'IIU' signature on RW2 files makes programmatic identification extremely reliable compared to other TIFF-spoofing raw formats
Limitations
  • Proprietary format requires continuous updates to third-party processing engines whenever Panasonic releases a new Lumix camera
  • Produces very large file sizes, particularly when using Panasonic's High-Resolution multi-shot modes
  • Cannot be directly embedded into web pages or used in standard HTML/CSS contexts

When to choose which format

DPX
Use DPX when…
  • Film Scanning
  • Visual Effects (VFX)
  • Digital Intermediate (DI)
  • Color Grading
  • Archival
Panasonic-RAW-(RW2)
Use Panasonic-RAW-(RW2) when…
  • Professional Digital Photography
  • Non-destructive Image Post-Processing
  • High Dynamic Range (HDR) Lumix Archival

More comparisons

DPX vs ACES → Panasonic-RAW-(RW2) vs ACES → DPX vs APNG → Panasonic-RAW-(RW2) vs APNG → DPX vs AVCI → Panasonic-RAW-(RW2) vs AVCI → DPX vs AVCS → Panasonic-RAW-(RW2) vs AVCS → DPX vs AVIF → Panasonic-RAW-(RW2) vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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