Free webp to jpg
Image MIME Reference
HEJ2K

JPEG 2000 Image (HEIF Container)

image/hej2k
VS

PaintShop Pro Image

image/x-paintshoppro
PaintShop-Pro-PSP

A complete technical comparison of JPEG 2000 Image (HEIF Container) and PaintShop Pro Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature HEJ2K PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading Yes ✕ No
HDR Support Yes Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
JPEG 2000 Image (HEIF Container)
image/hej2k
Extension
.hej2
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF (ISO/IEC 15444-16)
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
JPEG 2000HTJ2K
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 16-bit
Developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1 / ITU-T
Released 2019
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 6A 32 6B 69
Full HEJ2K 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 HEJ2K PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Chrome Chrome
Firefox Firefox
Safari Safari
Edge Edge
IE IE (Legacy)
HEJ2K

HEJ2K Strengths

  • Brings the extensive capabilities of the HEIF container (like EXIF/XMP, thumbnails, and depth maps) to JPEG 2000
  • Supports mathematically lossless compression via wavelet transformation
  • High scalability and progressive decoding out of the box
Limitations
  • Extremely limited software support outside of niche industries
  • Zero native compatibility with web browsers
  • High computational complexity compared to simpler formats like JPEG or PNG
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

HEJ2K
Use HEJ2K when…
  • Medical Imaging
  • Geospatial Data
  • Scientific Archiving
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)
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