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Image MIME Reference
ACES

ACES Image Container File

image/aces
VS

JPEG Stereo Image

image/x-jps
JPS

A complete technical comparison of ACES Image Container File and JPEG Stereo Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

JPS wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature ACES JPS
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No Yes
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No Yes
ICC Color Profile ✕ No Yes
ACES Image Container File
image/aces
Extension
.exr
Container OpenEXR (SMPTE ST 2065-4)
Compression Lossless / Uncompressed
Algorithm
PIZZIPRLEB44Uncompressed
Color Depth 16-bit (Half-float), 32-bit (Float)
Developed by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) / SMPTE
Released 2013
Magic Bytes
76 2F 31 01
Full ACES reference →
JPEG Stereo Image
image/x-jps
Extension
.jps
Container JPEG (JFIF/Exif)
Compression Lossy (JPEG/DCT)
Algorithm
JPEG (Discrete Cosine Transform)
Color Depth 8-bit (Grayscale), 24-bit (RGB)
Developed by Stereoscopic Community (Unofficial Standard)
Released 1990
Magic Bytes
FF D8 FF
Full JPS reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser ACES JPS
Chrome Chrome
✕
✓ 1
Firefox Firefox
✕
✓ 1
Safari Safari
✕
✓ 1
Edge Edge
✕
✓ 12
IE IE (Legacy)
✕
✓
ACES

ACES Strengths

  • Industry standard for high-end visual effects, compositing, and color grading
  • Supports 16-bit half-float data, accurately capturing immense dynamic range without clipping
  • Standardized by SMPTE (ST 2065-4) to guarantee universal color interoperability across different post-production facilities
Limitations
  • Considerably larger file sizes than conventional consumer image formats
  • Completely unsupported in web browsers and most standard desktop viewers
  • Requires specialized compositing or color grading software to interpret and view the scene-linear data correctly
JPS

JPS Strengths

  • 100% backward compatible with every standard 2D image viewer and web browser (which simply display the two halves side-by-side)
  • Inherits JPEG's excellent lossy compression, resulting in small file sizes ideal for web transmission
  • Extremely easy to generate programmatically by simply stitching two JPEG images side-by-side onto a wider canvas
Limitations
  • Lack of a dedicated metadata standard means viewing software has to guess whether the layout is 'cross-eyed' (right eye left, left eye right) or 'parallel' (left eye left, right eye right), occasionally causing inverted depth
  • Suffers from JPEG compression artifacts, which can break the stereoscopic illusion if compression noise differs between the left and right eyes
  • Superseded in consumer electronics by the MPO (Multi-Picture Object) format, which stacks separate full-resolution JPEGs rather than squishing them side-by-side

When to choose which format

ACES
Use ACES when…
  • Visual Effects (VFX)
  • Digital Intermediate (DI)
  • Color Grading
  • Archival
JPS
Use JPS when…
  • Stereoscopic 3D Photography
  • Virtual Reality (VR) Image Galleries
  • Cross-eye / Parallel Stereograms

More comparisons

ACES vs APNG → JPS vs APNG → ACES vs AVCI → JPS vs AVCI → ACES vs AVCS → JPS vs AVCS → ACES vs AVIF → JPS vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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