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Image MIME Reference
JPEG-XS-(HEIF)

JPEG XS Image (HEIF Container)

image/jxsi
VS

PCO B16 Image

image/vnd.pco.b16
PCO-B16

A complete technical comparison of JPEG XS Image (HEIF Container) and PCO B16 Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature JPEG-XS-(HEIF) PCO-B16
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
JPEG XS Image (HEIF Container)
image/jxsi
Extension
.jxsi.jxs.hif
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF (ISO/IEC 23008-12)
Compression Lossy (Visually Lossless) / Mathematically Lossless
Algorithm
JPEG XS (ISO/IEC 21122-1)
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 14-bit, 16-bit
Developed by Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
Released 2019
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 6A 78 73 69
Full JPEG-XS-(HEIF) reference →
PCO B16 Image
image/vnd.pco.b16
Extension
.b16
Container PCO B16 Binary Container
Compression Uncompressed (Raw Sensor Data)
Algorithm
None
Color Depth 16-bit (Monochrome or Bayer Raw Color)
Developed by PCO AG (Excelitas PCO GmbH)
Released Early 2000s
Magic Bytes
50 43 4F 2D
Full PCO-B16 reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser JPEG-XS-(HEIF) PCO-B16
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
JPEG-XS-(HEIF)

JPEG-XS-(HEIF) Strengths

  • Provides sub-millisecond encoding and decoding latency while retaining visually lossless quality
  • Brings the extensive metadata, EXIF, XMP, and color-profiling capabilities of the HEIF container to JPEG XS
  • Allows grouping of multiple high-quality JPEG XS frames into a single collection file
Limitations
  • Zero web browser compatibility, limiting it entirely to professional and industrial hardware workflows
  • Extremely niche adoption compared to standard HEVC-based HEIC or raw JPEG XS codestreams
  • Requires custom parsing logic to extract the JPEG XS codestream from the HEIF boxes
PCO-B16

PCO-B16 Strengths

  • Preserves exact, uncompressed 16-bit raw sensor data, which is critically important for accurate scientific measurements, fluorescence microscopy, and photometry
  • The simple, linear struct header is highly predictable and easy to parse in custom Python, MATLAB, or C++ scripts for researchers building bespoke pipelines
Limitations
  • Generates massive file sizes due to the complete lack of image compression [1.3.1]
  • Completely unsupported by standard operating systems, web browsers, and consumer image editing suites
  • Strictly tied to the hardware and software ecosystems of a single camera manufacturer

When to choose which format

JPEG-XS-(HEIF)
Use JPEG-XS-(HEIF) when…
  • Live Broadcast Infrastructure
  • Medical Imaging & Archival
  • Video over IP Networks
  • Automotive & Drone Systems
PCO-B16
Use PCO-B16 when…
  • Microscopy and Life Sciences
  • High-Speed Camera Recording
  • Machine Vision and Industrial Inspection
  • Scientific Photometry

More comparisons

JPEG-XS-(HEIF) vs ACES → PCO-B16 vs ACES → JPEG-XS-(HEIF) vs APNG → PCO-B16 vs APNG → JPEG-XS-(HEIF) vs AVCI → PCO-B16 vs AVCI → JPEG-XS-(HEIF) vs AVCS → PCO-B16 vs AVCS → JPEG-XS-(HEIF) vs AVIF → PCO-B16 vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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