Image MIME Reference
FPX
FlashPix
image/vnd.fpx
VS
JPEG Stereo Image
image/x-jps
JPS
A complete technical comparison of FlashPix 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 | FPX | JPS |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | Yes | ✕ No |
| Animation Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Progressive Loading | ✕ No | Yes |
| HDR Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| EXIF Metadata | Yes | Yes |
| ICC Color Profile | Yes | Yes |
FlashPix
image/vnd.fpx
Extension
.fpx
Container
Microsoft OLE Structured Storage (COM)
Compression
JPEG (Lossy) / Uncompressed / Single-color (Solid)
Algorithm
JPEGNone
Color Depth
8-bit (Grayscale/Indexed), 24-bit (RGB), 32-bit (CMYK/RGBA)
Developed by
Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Live Picture
Released
1996
Magic Bytes
D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1
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 | FPX | JPS |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ |
✓ 1
|
Firefox
|
✕ |
✓ 1
|
Safari
|
✕ |
✓ 1
|
Edge
|
✕ |
✓ 12
|
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ |
✓
|
FPX
FPX Strengths
- Allowed early, low-RAM computers to view and edit massive, high-resolution digital photos instantly by only loading the needed tiles and resolutions
- Pioneered the multi-resolution pyramid and tiling concepts heavily used today in modern deep-zoom and web mapping applications (like Google Maps)
Limitations
- Completely obsolete and unsupported by modern web browsers or operating systems
- Uses the complex, proprietary Microsoft OLE container format, making it incredibly difficult to parse or extract data from without dedicated legacy libraries
- Prone to being misidentified by MIME sniffers as an old Microsoft Office document
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
FPX
Use FPX when…
- Legacy Digital Photography
- Kodak Picture CDs (Historical)
- Early High-Resolution Image Viewers
JPS
Use JPS when…
- Stereoscopic 3D Photography
- Virtual Reality (VR) Image Galleries
- Cross-eye / Parallel Stereograms