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Image MIME Reference
Kodak-KDC

Kodak KDC Raw Image

image/x-kodak-kdc
VS

Portable Pixmap

image/x-portable-pixmap
PPM

A complete technical comparison of Kodak KDC Raw Image and Portable Pixmap — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Kodak-KDC PPM
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No ✕ No
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
Kodak KDC Raw Image
image/x-kodak-kdc
Extension
.kdc
Container TIFF/EP
Compression Uncompressed / Proprietary Lossless
Algorithm
NoneLossless JPEG (ITU-T81)Proprietary Kodak Compression
Color Depth 10-bit, 12-bit (Per Channel)
Developed by Eastman Kodak Company
Released 1995
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00 or 4D 4D 00 2A
Full Kodak-KDC reference →
Portable Pixmap
image/x-portable-pixmap
Extension
.ppm
Container Netpbm
Compression Uncompressed
Algorithm
None
Color Depth 24-bit (RGB), 48-bit (RGB High Color)
Developed by Jef Poskanzer (Netpbm Project)
Released 1988
Magic Bytes
50 33 (ASCII) or 50 36 (Binary)
Full PPM reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Kodak-KDC PPM
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
Kodak-KDC

Kodak-KDC Strengths

  • Preserves original raw sensor data, allowing modern demosaicing software to extract significantly more detail and dynamic range than the camera's built-in JPEG engine could at the time
  • Utilizes the standard TIFF container structure, ensuring broad compatibility with open-source decoding libraries (like LibRaw)
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete proprietary format tied to a defunct line of consumer digital cameras
  • Subject to widespread misidentification by automated MIME detection libraries due to structural similarities with standard TIFFs
  • Cannot be natively viewed in web browsers or standard operating system image viewers without specialized decoders
PPM

PPM Strengths

  • Absolute structural simplicity allows parsers and renderers (such as custom raytracers) to write directly to the format with virtually no overhead or external libraries
  • Supports 16-bit per channel (48-bit total) precision, preserving deep color accuracy before converting to final delivery formats
  • ASCII encoding ('P3') allows manual editing and visual inspection of RGB values directly within a text editor
Limitations
  • Zero compression results in astronomical file sizes, making it entirely impractical for web delivery or consumer storage
  • Does not natively support an alpha channel for transparency (this is handled by the newer PAM extension format within the Netpbm suite)
  • Lacks support for modern metadata standards like EXIF, XMP, or embedded ICC color profiles

When to choose which format

Kodak-KDC
Use Kodak-KDC when…
  • Vintage Digital Photography Archival
  • Kodak DC and EasyShare P-Series Raw Post-Processing
  • Historical Imaging Research
PPM
Use PPM when…
  • Intermediary Format for Image Format Conversion
  • Academic Computer Graphics and Raytracing Output
  • Unix/Linux Command-Line Image Pipelines

More comparisons

Kodak-KDC vs ACES → PPM vs ACES → Kodak-KDC vs APNG → PPM vs APNG → Kodak-KDC vs AVCI → PPM vs AVCI → Kodak-KDC vs AVCS → PPM vs AVCS → Kodak-KDC vs AVIF → PPM vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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