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Image MIME Reference
FreeHand

Macromedia FreeHand Document

image/x-freehand
VS

Portable Network Graphics (Legacy MIME)

image/x-png
PNG

A complete technical comparison of Macromedia FreeHand Document and Portable Network Graphics (Legacy MIME) — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

PNG wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature FreeHand PNG
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
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 →
Portable Network Graphics (Legacy MIME)
image/x-png
Extension
.png
Container PNG Chunk Structure (IHDR, IDAT, IEND)
Compression Deflate (Lossless)
Algorithm
Deflate (LZ77)
Color Depth 1-bit to 16-bit (Grayscale), 8-bit (Indexed Palette), 24-bit (True Color), 32-bit (True Color with Alpha), 48-bit (High Color), 64-bit (High Color with Alpha)
Developed by PNG Development Group
Released 1996
Magic Bytes
89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A
Full PNG reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser FreeHand PNG
Chrome Chrome
✕
✓ 1
Firefox Firefox
✕
✓ 1
Safari Safari
✕
✓ 1
Edge Edge
✕
✓ 12
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
PNG

PNG Strengths

  • The underlying format provides flawless, lossless compression and perfect 8-bit alpha channel transparency
  • Universally supported by every modern operating system, image editor, and web browser
Limitations
  • The 'image/x-png' string is an obsolete vendor quirk that forces backend developers to write redundant normalization logic in file upload scripts
  • If left unnormalized, strict MIME validators or content security policies on modern systems may incorrectly reject valid PNG files

When to choose which format

FreeHand
Use FreeHand when…
  • Legacy Graphic Design Portfolios
  • Historical Desktop Publishing Archival
  • Old Corporate Logo Vectors
PNG
Use PNG when…
  • Legacy Internet Explorer File Uploads
  • Older ASP/PHP Web Applications
  • Lossless Web Graphics

More comparisons

FreeHand vs ACES → PNG vs ACES → FreeHand vs APNG → PNG vs APNG → FreeHand vs AVCI → PNG vs AVCI → FreeHand vs AVCS → PNG vs AVCS → FreeHand vs AVIF → PNG vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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