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Image MIME Reference
JPX

JPEG 2000 Part 2 (Extended)

image/jpx
VS

Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)

image/x-tga
TGA

A complete technical comparison of JPEG 2000 Part 2 (Extended) and Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias) — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature JPX TGA
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading Yes ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
JPEG 2000 Part 2 (Extended)
image/jpx
Extension
.jpx.jpf
Container ISOBMFF / JPX (ISO/IEC 15444-2)
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT)
Color Depth 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 38-bit
Developed by Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
Released 2002
Magic Bytes
00 00 00 0C 6A 50 20 20 0D 0A 87 0A ... 66 74 79 70 6A 70 78 20
Full JPX reference →
Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)
image/x-tga
Extension
.tga.icb.vda.vst
Container Truevision TGA Footer/Header
Compression Uncompressed / Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
Algorithm
NoneRLE
Color Depth 8-bit (Grayscale or Indexed), 16-bit (High Color), 24-bit (True Color), 32-bit (True Color with Alpha Channel)
Developed by Truevision Inc.
Released 1984
Magic Bytes
54 52 55 45 56 49 53 49 4F 4E 2D 58 46 49 4C 45 2E 00 (At the end of the file)
Full TGA reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser JPX TGA
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
JPX

JPX Strengths

  • Removes the color space limitations of baseline JP2, adding native support for CMYK, CIE Lab, and custom vendor color spaces
  • Supports multiple codestreams in a single file, allowing for rich compositing and animation
  • Enables fragmented files where image data and metadata can reside in separate physical files via data references
Limitations
  • Extremely complex specification makes full software implementation rare, leading to compatibility issues
  • Zero web browser support, rendering it unsuitable for public internet distribution
  • Often overkill for standard imaging tasks where baseline JP2 or modern alternatives like AVIF suffice
TGA

TGA Strengths

  • Incredibly simple byte layout allows developers to write custom loaders and exporters in a few dozen lines of code, bypassing the need for heavy external libraries
  • Native support for 8-bit alpha channels ensures flawless transparency masking for real-time 3D rendering
  • Fast, predictable RLE decoding requires almost no CPU overhead compared to DEFLATE (PNG) or DCT (JPEG)
Limitations
  • RLE compression is relatively weak by modern standards, resulting in large file sizes
  • Lacks a standard magic byte header at the beginning of the file, making file-sniffing unreliable for older v1.0 files
  • Zero support in web browsers; must be converted to PNG or WebP for web delivery

When to choose which format

JPX
Use JPX when…
  • Prepress & Commercial Printing (CMYK)
  • Geospatial Data
  • Archival Preservation
  • Medical Imaging
TGA
Use TGA when…
  • Video Game 3D Textures and Materials
  • 3D Rendering and Animation Sequences
  • Legacy Video Production Workflows

More comparisons

JPX vs ACES → TGA vs ACES → JPX vs APNG → TGA vs APNG → JPX vs AVCI → TGA vs AVCI → JPX vs AVCS → TGA vs AVCS → JPX vs AVIF → TGA vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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