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Image MIME Reference
FreeHand

Macromedia FreeHand Document

image/x-freehand
VS

JPEG XR Image Sequence (HEIF Container)

image/jxrs
JPEG-XR-Sequence

A complete technical comparison of Macromedia FreeHand Document and JPEG XR Image Sequence (HEIF Container) — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature FreeHand JPEG-XR-Sequence
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes Yes
Progressive Loading ✕ No Yes
HDR Support ✕ No Yes
EXIF Metadata ✕ No Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
Macromedia FreeHand Document
image/x-freehand
Extension
.fh.fh4.fh5.fh7.fh8.fh9.fh10.fh11.ft11
Container Proprietary Binary (Aldus Graphic Document)
Compression Uncompressed / Deflate (in later versions)
Algorithm
NoneDeflate (Optional in later versions)
Color Depth Vector Data (RGB/CMYK)
Developed by Altsys / Aldus / Macromedia
Released 1988
Magic Bytes
41 47 44 31 to 41 47 44 34
Full FreeHand reference →
JPEG XR Image Sequence (HEIF Container)
image/jxrs
Extension
.jxrs
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF (ISO/IEC 23008-12 / Annex F of ITU-T T.832)
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
JPEG XR (Lapped Biorthogonal Transform)
Color Depth 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit (Float)
Developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1 / ITU-T
Released 2019
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 6A 78 72 53
Full JPEG-XR-Sequence reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser FreeHand JPEG-XR-Sequence
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
FreeHand

FreeHand Strengths

  • Historically one of the most powerful and intuitive vector editors on the market, praised for multi-page support long before Adobe Illustrator implemented it
  • Files are generally compact and self-contained
Limitations
  • Completely abandoned proprietary format; Adobe actively blocked native import in modern versions of Illustrator
  • No support in modern web browsers; must be converted to SVG
  • Versioning fragmentation means parsers must account for wildly different binary structures depending on the specific .fhX extension used
JPEG-XR-Sequence

JPEG-XR-Sequence Strengths

  • Supports 32-bit floating point HDR color depths natively across an entire animation sequence
  • Combines the advanced coding efficiencies of JPEG XR with the sequence timing and metadata framework of HEIF
  • Shares frame data structures allowing for optimized storage of burst photography
Limitations
  • Extremely rare format with essentially no mainstream software adoption
  • Zero web browser support
  • Overshadowed heavily by HEVC (HEIC sequences) and AV1 (AVIF sequences) which offer superior compression and broader hardware decoding support

When to choose which format

FreeHand
Use FreeHand when…
  • Legacy Graphic Design Portfolios
  • Historical Desktop Publishing Archival
  • Old Corporate Logo Vectors
JPEG-XR-Sequence
Use JPEG-XR-Sequence when…
  • Experimental Animation Workflows
  • HDR Burst Photography Archiving
  • Specialized Medical & Scientific Imaging

More comparisons

FreeHand vs ACES → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs ACES → FreeHand vs APNG → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs APNG → FreeHand vs AVCI → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs AVCI → FreeHand vs AVCS → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs AVCS → FreeHand vs AVIF → JPEG-XR-Sequence vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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