Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
FLIF

Free Lossless Image Format

image/flif
VS

GIMP Image Format

image/x-xcf
XCF

A complete technical comparison of Free Lossless Image Format and GIMP Image Format — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature FLIF XCF
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes Yes
Progressive Loading Yes ✕ No
HDR Support Yes Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
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
Full FLIF reference →
GIMP Image Format
image/x-xcf
Extension
.xcf
Container GIMP Hierarchical Chunk Container
Compression None / RLE (Run-Length Encoding) / Zlib / Deflate (In newer GIMP versions)
Algorithm
NoneRLEZlib
Color Depth 8-bit per channel, 16-bit per channel, 32-bit floating point
Developed by Spencer Kimball, Peter Mattis, and the GIMP Development Team
Released 1995
Magic Bytes
67 69 6D 70 20 78 63 66
Full XCF reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser FLIF XCF
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE 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
XCF

XCF Strengths

  • Preserves all non-destructive editing elements, layer hierarchies, masks, and alpha channels across GIMP sessions
  • Open and thoroughly documented specification within the open-source community, allowing third-party tools like Krita and ImageMagick to read project files
  • Reliable magic byte header prevents misidentification
Limitations
  • Massive file sizes because raw, unflattened layer bitmaps and masks are stored directly within the project archive
  • Completely proprietary to the GIMP ecosystem for deep editing; cannot be natively rendered or parsed by web browsers
  • Third-party software supporting XCF may occasionally struggle to render complex text layer adjustments or advanced layer blend modes identically to GIMP

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
XCF
Use XCF when…
  • GIMP Native Project Archival
  • Layered Photo Editing and Graphic Design
  • Intermediary Asset Preparation for Export

More comparisons

FLIF vs ACES → XCF vs ACES → FLIF vs APNG → XCF vs APNG → FLIF vs AVCI → XCF vs AVCI → FLIF vs AVCS → XCF vs AVCS → FLIF vs AVIF → XCF vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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