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Image MIME Reference
FPX

FlashPix

image/vnd.fpx
VS

Valve Texture Format

image/vnd.valve.source.texture
VTF

A complete technical comparison of FlashPix and Valve Texture Format — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature FPX VTF
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support ✕ No Yes
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
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
Full FPX reference →
Valve Texture Format
image/vnd.valve.source.texture
Extension
.vtf
Container Valve Texture Format Header
Compression DXTC (DXT1, DXT3, DXT5) / Uncompressed (BGRA8888, RGB888, etc.)
Algorithm
DXT1-DXT5None
Color Depth 8-bit, 24-bit (RGB), 32-bit (RGBA), 16-bit Floating Point (HDR)
Developed by Valve Corporation
Released 2004
Magic Bytes
56 54 46 00
Full VTF reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser FPX VTF
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE 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
VTF

VTF Strengths

  • Extremely fast loading within the Source Engine because the block-compressed data goes directly into the GPU's VRAM without CPU decompression overhead
  • Bundles mipmaps, volumetric slices, cubemap faces, and animation frames entirely within a single file
  • Openly documented by the Valve Developer Community, leading to a massive ecosystem of third-party modding tools
Limitations
  • Strictly tied to the Source Engine ecosystem; entirely useless in standard web or print contexts
  • No native support in standard image editors without hunting down and installing specialized plugins
  • Block compression algorithms (DXT) are lossy and can cause visible artifacting, especially on normal maps or smooth gradients

When to choose which format

FPX
Use FPX when…
  • Legacy Digital Photography
  • Kodak Picture CDs (Historical)
  • Early High-Resolution Image Viewers
VTF
Use VTF when…
  • Source Engine Game Textures
  • Custom Maps and Modding (Garry's Mod, CS:GO)
  • Animated In-Game Decals and Sprays
  • Environment Cubemaps (Skyboxes)

More comparisons

FPX vs ACES → VTF vs ACES → FPX vs APNG → VTF vs APNG → FPX vs AVCI → VTF vs AVCI → FPX vs AVCS → VTF vs AVCS → FPX vs AVIF → VTF vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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