Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
FST-Image

FAST Search & Transfer Image

image/vnd.fst
VS

PaintShop Pro Image

image/x-paintshoppro
PaintShop-Pro-PSP

A complete technical comparison of FAST Search & Transfer Image and PaintShop Pro Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature FST-Image PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No Yes
EXIF Metadata ✕ No Yes
ICC Color Profile ✕ No Yes
FAST Search & Transfer Image
image/vnd.fst
Extension
.fst
Container Proprietary FAST Container
Compression Proprietary
Algorithm
Unknown (Proprietary FAST encoding)
Color Depth Unknown
Developed by FAST Search & Transfer ASA (Arild Fuldseth)
Released 2000
Magic Bytes
Unknown (Proprietary)
Full FST-Image reference →
PaintShop Pro Image
image/x-paintshoppro
Extension
.psp.pspimage.tub.pat
Container PSP Chunk-based Format
Compression Uncompressed / RLE (Run-Length Encoding) / LZ77
Algorithm
RLELZ77
Color Depth 8-bit (Indexed), 16-bit (Grayscale), 24-bit (RGB), 32-bit (RGBA), 48-bit (High Color)
Developed by Jasc Software / Corel Corporation (Alludo)
Released 1990
Magic Bytes
7E 42 4B 00
Full PaintShop-Pro-PSP reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser FST-Image PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
FST-Image

FST-Image Strengths

  • Historically served as an optimized, compressed format for FAST's early multimedia and live streaming engines over constrained late-1990s bandwidth
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete and non-functional in modern software ecosystems
  • Undocumented, closed-source binary structure with zero support in modern image processing libraries
  • Shares its file extension with several other distinct file types (such as FL Studio state files or FAST Search dictionaries), leading to easy misidentification
PaintShop-Pro-PSP

PaintShop-Pro-PSP Strengths

  • Provides robust, non-destructive editing capabilities with full support for vector layers, adjustment layers, and layer blend modes
  • Historically offered a highly capable and affordable alternative to Adobe Photoshop's PSD format for Windows users
  • Features proprietary support for 'Picture Tubes' (.tub), a unique brush technology that paints sequential or random raster objects along a path
Limitations
  • Deeply proprietary format tied exclusively to the Corel/Alludo ecosystem
  • Third-party software support (like GIMP or ImageMagick) is often limited to parsing older .psp files, frequently failing to render complex layers in modern .pspimage files
  • No support in modern web browsers; must be exported to a flattened web format (JPEG/PNG) for online viewing

When to choose which format

FST-Image
Use FST-Image when…
  • Historical FAST Enterprise Search Indexing
  • Legacy Proprietary Multimedia Streaming (late 1990s)
  • Internal Media Transmission
PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Use PaintShop-Pro-PSP when…
  • PaintShop Pro Multi-layer Project Archival
  • Digital Art and Photo Retouching
  • Picture Tubes (.tub) and Custom Patterns (.pat)

More comparisons

FST-Image vs ACES → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs ACES → FST-Image vs APNG → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs APNG → FST-Image vs AVCI → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVCI → FST-Image vs AVCS → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVCS → FST-Image vs AVIF → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVIF → All comparisons →
Share this comparison