Free webp to jpg
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Image MIME Reference
JNG

JPEG Network Graphics

image/x-jng
VS

Radiance HDR

image/vnd.radiance
Radiance

A complete technical comparison of JPEG Network Graphics and Radiance HDR — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature JNG Radiance
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading Yes ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
JPEG Network Graphics
image/x-jng
Extension
.jng
Container PNG-style Chunk Structure (JHDR, JDAT, IDAT, IEND)
Compression Lossy (JPEG/DCT for color) / Lossless (Deflate for alpha mask)
Algorithm
JPEG (Discrete Cosine Transform)Deflate (LZ77)
Color Depth 8-bit, 12-bit, 24-bit (RGB), 32-bit (RGBA)
Developed by MNG Development Group (Glenn Randers-Pehrson et al.)
Released 2001
Magic Bytes
8B 4A 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A
Full JNG reference →
Radiance HDR
image/vnd.radiance
Extension
.hdr.pic.rgbe.xyze
Container Radiance Information Header
Compression Run-Length Encoding (RLE) / Uncompressed
Algorithm
Adaptive Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
Color Depth 32-bit (8-bit per channel RGB + 8-bit shared Exponent)
Developed by Greg Ward (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
Released 1989
Magic Bytes
23 3F 52 41 44 49 41 4E 43 45
Full Radiance reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser JNG Radiance
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
JNG

JNG Strengths

  • Solved a massive technical hurdle in the early 2000s by combining high-compression lossy photographic data with crisp, 8-bit alpha transparency
  • Utilized the highly robust, extensible chunk-based architecture of the PNG format
  • Provided an excellent, bandwidth-saving alternative to massive 32-bit transparent PNGs for web design
Limitations
  • Failed to achieve critical mass; browser vendors largely abandoned the MNG/JNG standard due to implementation complexity
  • Completely obsolete today, having been superseded by natively supported, superior formats like WebP, AVIF, and HEIC
  • Decoding requires a hybrid engine that can parse PNG chunks while simultaneously decoding a JPEG stream and a Deflate stream, complicating software support
Radiance

Radiance Strengths

  • Universally supported by almost every 3D modeling software, renderer, and game engine in existence
  • RGBE encoding offers a brilliant balance between High Dynamic Range capability and small file size (compared to 32-bit float OpenEXR)
  • Simple, easy-to-parse ASCII header followed by straightforward RLE binary data
Limitations
  • Does not support alpha transparency (no way to store an isolated light source with a transparent background)
  • The shared exponent architecture can occasionally introduce banding or color artifacts in extreme edge cases compared to true 16-bit/32-bit floating-point formats like OpenEXR
  • Zero native browser support for 2D viewing

When to choose which format

JNG
Use JNG when…
  • Embedded frames in MNG animations
  • Historical web graphics requiring lossy compression with transparency
Radiance
Use Radiance when…
  • Image-Based Lighting (IBL)
  • 3D Environment Maps (HDRI Skydomes)
  • Lighting Simulation
  • VFX and CGI Rendering

More comparisons

JNG vs ACES → Radiance vs ACES → JNG vs APNG → Radiance vs APNG → JNG vs AVCI → Radiance vs AVCI → JNG vs AVCS → Radiance vs AVCS → JNG vs AVIF → Radiance vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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