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Image MIME Reference
FreeHand

Macromedia FreeHand Document

image/x-freehand
VS

X Pixmap

image/x-xpixmap
XPM

A complete technical comparison of Macromedia FreeHand Document and X Pixmap — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature FreeHand XPM
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
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 →
X Pixmap
image/x-xpixmap
Extension
.xpm
Container C Source Code Header (.c / .h)
Compression Uncompressed (Source Code)
Algorithm
None
Color Depth Indexed Color (Custom Palette with RGB and Alpha 'None')
Developed by Daniel Dardailler and Colas Nahaboo (Bull / X Consortium)
Released 1989
Magic Bytes
2F 2A 20 58 50 4D 20 2A 2F (ASCII '/* XPM */')
Full XPM reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser FreeHand XPM
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
XPM

XPM Strengths

  • Can be compiled directly into C or C++ source code without requiring an external asset loading mechanism
  • Human-readable palette mapping allows developers to inspect, modify, or hand-craft icons directly within a text editor
  • Native support for color palettes and transparency via the 'None' keyword
Limitations
  • Extremely inefficient storage structure for large images, resulting in massive file bloat compared to binary formats like PNG
  • Completely obsolete and unsupported in modern web browsers
  • Parsing overhead requires compiling or interpreting text-based color tables at runtime

When to choose which format

FreeHand
Use FreeHand when…
  • Legacy Graphic Design Portfolios
  • Historical Desktop Publishing Archival
  • Old Corporate Logo Vectors
XPM
Use XPM when…
  • X Window System (X11) Application Icons and Cursors
  • Embedded C/C++ Firmware Color UI Assets
  • Early Linux Desktop Environment Themes

More comparisons

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