Image MIME Reference
FastBid
FastBid Sheet
image/vnd.fastbidsheet
VS
Digital Camera Raw (Generic Linux MIME)
image/x-dcraw
Generic-RAW
A complete technical comparison of FastBid Sheet and Digital Camera Raw (Generic Linux MIME) — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.
Equal browser support
Feature Support
| Feature | FastBid | Generic-RAW |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Animation Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Progressive Loading | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| HDR Support | ✕ No | Yes |
| EXIF Metadata | ✕ No | Yes |
| ICC Color Profile | ✕ No | Yes |
FastBid Sheet
image/vnd.fastbidsheet
Extension
.fbs
Container
Proprietary FastBid Container
Compression
Proprietary
Algorithm
Unknown
Color Depth
Unknown
Developed by
FastBid, Inc. (Scott Becker)
Released
Late 1990s
Magic Bytes
Unknown (Proprietary)
Digital Camera Raw (Generic Linux MIME)
image/x-dcraw
Extension
.raw
Container
Varies (Predominantly TIFF/EP)
Compression
Lossless / Uncompressed
Algorithm
Varies (Often Lossless JPEG ITU-T81 or uncompressed)
Color Depth
12-bit, 14-bit, 16-bit
Developed by
freedesktop.org (MIME mapping) / Dave Coffin (dcraw tool)
Released
1997
Magic Bytes
Varies by vendor format
Browser Support Comparison
| Browser | FastBid | Generic-RAW |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ | ✕ |
Firefox
|
✕ | ✕ |
Safari
|
✕ | ✕ |
Edge
|
✕ | ✕ |
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ | ✕ |
FastBid
FastBid Strengths
- Historically allowed the FastBid application to securely associate and load proprietary construction plans within its ecosystem
Limitations
- Completely obsolete and unsupported in modern software environments
- The official IANA registration of the .fbs extension causes widespread false positives, breaking modern parsers, text editors, and AI SDKs attempting to read FlatBuffers schemas
Generic-RAW
Generic-RAW Strengths
- Provides a unified, highly useful catch-all MIME type for application developers who just need to know if a file is a raw image, rather than tracking 50+ individual camera extensions
- Deeply integrated into the Linux desktop ecosystem, ensuring file manager thumbnails work seamlessly via tools like ufraw-thumbnailer
Limitations
- Not an official IANA standard
- Can cause conflicts where standard TIFF files are misidentified as raw camera data by over-aggressive MIME sniffers
- The underlying 'dcraw' tool was abandoned by its creator in 2018 (though its successor, LibRaw, continues to maintain the ecosystem)
When to choose which format
FastBid
Use FastBid when…
- Legacy Construction Blueprints
- FastBid Estimating Software
- Causing .fbs MIME Type Conflicts (FlatBuffers)
Generic-RAW
Use Generic-RAW when…
- Linux Desktop File Associations (GNOME/KDE)
- Thumbnail Generation for Raw Images (UFRaw/LibRaw)
- Server-side Image Processing Fallbacks