Image MIME Reference
HTJ2K-Codestream
High-Throughput JPEG 2000 Codestream
image/jphc
VS
TIFF for Facsimile eXtended
image/tiff-fx
TIFF-FX
A complete technical comparison of High-Throughput JPEG 2000 Codestream 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 | HTJ2K-Codestream | TIFF-FX |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | Yes | ✕ No |
| Animation Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Progressive Loading | Yes | ✕ No |
| HDR Support | Yes | ✕ No |
| EXIF Metadata | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| ICC Color Profile | ✕ No | Yes |
High-Throughput JPEG 2000 Codestream
image/jphc
Extension
.jhc
Container
None (Raw Codestream)
Compression
Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
High-Throughput JPEG 2000 (HTJ2K)
Color Depth
8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 38-bit
Developed by
Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
Released
2019
Magic Bytes
FF 4F FF 51
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 | HTJ2K-Codestream | TIFF-FX |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ | ✕ |
Firefox
|
✕ | ✕ |
Safari
|
✕ | ✕ |
Edge
|
✕ | ✕ |
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ | ✕ |
HTJ2K-Codestream
HTJ2K-Codestream Strengths
- Extremely fast encoding and decoding capabilities due to the parallelizable block coder
- Minimal file overhead since it lacks container headers and metadata
- Ideal for streaming applications or embedded systems where parsing a full container is unnecessary
Limitations
- Lacks standard metadata support (like EXIF, XMP, or ICC color profiles) since there is no container structure
- Zero native web browser compatibility
- Difficult to distinguish from standard JPEG 2000 codestreams without deeply parsing the internal marker segments
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
HTJ2K-Codestream
Use HTJ2K-Codestream when…
- Medical Imaging Pipelines
- Geospatial Data Streaming
- Digital Cinema
- Embedded Systems
TIFF-FX
Use TIFF-FX when…
- Internet Fax (T.37)
- Enterprise Fax Servers
- Document Archiving
- Telecommunications