Image MIME Reference
FLIF
Free Lossless Image Format
image/flif
VS
QuickTime Image Format
image/x-quicktime
QTIF
A complete technical comparison of Free Lossless Image Format and QuickTime Image Format — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.
Equal browser support
Feature Support
| Feature | FLIF | QTIF |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | Yes | Yes |
| Animation Support | Yes | ✕ No |
| Progressive Loading | Yes | ✕ No |
| HDR Support | Yes | ✕ No |
| EXIF Metadata | Yes | ✕ No |
| ICC Color Profile | Yes | ✕ No |
Free Lossless Image Format
image/flif
Extension
.flif
Container
FLIF Bitstream
Compression
Lossless (MANIAC Entropy Coding)
Algorithm
MANIAC (Meta-Adaptive Near-zero Integer Arithmetic Coding)
Color Depth
1-bit to 16-bit (Per Channel), Grayscale, RGB, RGBA, CMYK
Developed by
Jon Sneyers and Pieter Wuille (Cloudinary)
Released
2015
Magic Bytes
46 4C 49 46
QuickTime Image Format
image/x-quicktime
Extension
.qtif.qti.qif
Container
QuickTime Atom Container
Compression
Varies (JPEG, SMC, Apple Video, Cinepak, Uncompressed)
Algorithm
QuickTime Image Compression Manager (ICM) Codecs
Color Depth
1-bit to 32-bit (Varies depending on the enclosed codec)
Developed by
Apple Computer, Inc.
Released
1991
Magic Bytes
Varies (Typically begins with a 32-bit size integer followed by 69 64 73 63 ('idsc'))
Browser Support Comparison
| Browser | FLIF | QTIF |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ | ✕ |
Firefox
|
✕ | ✕ |
Safari
|
✕ | ✕ |
Edge
|
✕ | ✕ |
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ | ✕ |
FLIF
FLIF Strengths
- Achieves some of the highest lossless compression ratios ever developed for raster images
- Incredible progressive decoding allows an image to be highly recognizable even after only 5% of the file has been downloaded
- Supports animations and complex alpha channels losslessly
Limitations
- Officially abandoned in favor of JPEG XL
- Zero native support in web browsers or standard operating system previewers
- Encoding speed can be significantly slower than standard PNG or WebP compression
QTIF
QTIF Strengths
- Extremely flexible architecture allowing it to encapsulate virtually any image compression algorithm available on the host machine
- Supported 32-bit images with alpha channels (transparency) long before PNG became an established standard
Limitations
- Fundamentally tied to Apple's deprecated QuickTime architecture, rendering the files almost entirely unreadable on modern systems without specialized legacy software or FFmpeg
- The 'wrapper' nature of the format means that even if a parser can read the QTIF container, it may fail to render the image if it lacks the specific proprietary codec (like Apple SMC) used to compress the pixel data
- Zero native support in modern web browsers
When to choose which format
FLIF
Use FLIF when…
- Archival of Uncompressed Image Assets
- Bandwidth-Constrained Progressive Image Loading (Historical)
- Medical and Scientific Imaging Storage
QTIF
Use QTIF when…
- Classic Mac OS Applications and Backgrounds
- QuickTime VR Panorama Textures
- 1990s CD-ROM Multimedia Assets