Image MIME Reference
HSJ2
JPEG 2000 Image Sequence (Obsolete)
image/hsj2
VS
TIFF for Facsimile eXtended
image/tiff-fx
TIFF-FX
A complete technical comparison of JPEG 2000 Image Sequence (Obsolete) and TIFF for Facsimile eXtended — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.
Equal browser support
Feature Support
| Feature | HSJ2 | TIFF-FX |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | Yes | ✕ No |
| Animation Support | Yes | ✕ No |
| Progressive Loading | Yes | ✕ No |
| HDR Support | Yes | ✕ No |
| EXIF Metadata | Yes | ✕ No |
| ICC Color Profile | Yes | Yes |
JPEG 2000 Image Sequence (Obsolete)
image/hsj2
Extension
.hsj2
Container
HEIF / ISOBMFF (ISO/IEC 15444-16 Obsolete)
Compression
Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
Motion JPEG 2000 (ISO/IEC 15444-3)
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 68 73 6A 32
TIFF for Facsimile eXtended
image/tiff-fx
Extension
.tiff.tif
Container
TIFF 6.0 Tag Directory Structure
Compression
MH / MR / MMR (CCITT Group 3 & 4) / JBIG / JPEG
Algorithm
CCITT Group 3/4JBIGJPEG
Color Depth
1-bit (Monochrome B&W), 8-bit (Grayscale/Color Indexed), 24-bit (RGB Color)
Developed by
IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
Released
1998
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00 (Little-Endian) / 4D 4D 00 2A (Big-Endian)
Browser Support Comparison
| Browser | HSJ2 | TIFF-FX |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ | ✕ |
Firefox
|
✕ | ✕ |
Safari
|
✕ | ✕ |
Edge
|
✕ | ✕ |
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ | ✕ |
HSJ2
HSJ2 Strengths
- Historically attempted to combine Motion JPEG 2000 sequences with the flexible metadata capabilities of the HEIF container
- Supported mathematically lossless compression and scalable wavelet decoding
Limitations
- Officially deprecated by the standardization body (ISO/IEC JTC 1)
- Completely superseded by image/hej2k, rendering hsj2 files obsolete for any new development or archiving
- Zero web browser compatibility and negligible modern software support
TIFF-FX
TIFF-FX Strengths
- Provides a universal, standardized format for transmitting multi-page documents over IP networks and email (Internet Fax)
- Supports highly efficient telecom-centric compression algorithms (MMR, JBIG) that produce very small files for text documents
- Maintains backwards compatibility with standard TIFF parsers
Limitations
- Not supported natively by web browsers
- Requires complex parsing of TIFF IFD tags to differentiate a true TIFF-FX file from a standard TIFF file
- Usage is slowly declining as traditional faxing is replaced by secure PDF transmission and e-signature platforms
When to choose which format
HSJ2
Use HSJ2 when…
- Legacy Archival
- Deprecated Workflows
TIFF-FX
Use TIFF-FX when…
- Internet Fax (T.37)
- Enterprise Fax Servers
- Document Archiving
- Telecommunications