Image MIME Reference
MacPaint
MacPaint Image
image/x-macpaint
VS
PaintShop Pro Image
image/x-paintshoppro
PaintShop-Pro-PSP
A complete technical comparison of MacPaint Image and PaintShop Pro Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.
Equal browser support
Feature Support
| Feature | MacPaint | PaintShop-Pro-PSP |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency (Alpha) | ✕ No | Yes |
| Animation Support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Progressive Loading | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| HDR Support | ✕ No | Yes |
| EXIF Metadata | ✕ No | Yes |
| ICC Color Profile | ✕ No | Yes |
MacPaint Image
image/x-macpaint
Extension
.mac.pntg.pnt.macp
Container
Raw pixel payload with a 512-byte pattern header
Compression
PackBits (Run-Length Encoding)
Algorithm
PackBits (Apple RLE)
Color Depth
1-bit (Monochrome)
Developed by
Apple Computer, Inc. (Bill Atkinson)
Released
1984
Magic Bytes
None (Relies on classic Mac OS 'PNTG' OSType)
PaintShop Pro Image
image/x-paintshoppro
Extension
.psp.pspimage.tub.pat
Container
PSP Chunk-based Format
Compression
Uncompressed / RLE (Run-Length Encoding) / LZ77
Algorithm
RLELZ77
Color Depth
8-bit (Indexed), 16-bit (Grayscale), 24-bit (RGB), 32-bit (RGBA), 48-bit (High Color)
Developed by
Jasc Software / Corel Corporation (Alludo)
Released
1990
Magic Bytes
7E 42 4B 00
Browser Support Comparison
| Browser | MacPaint | PaintShop-Pro-PSP |
|---|---|---|
Chrome
|
✕ | ✕ |
Firefox
|
✕ | ✕ |
Safari
|
✕ | ✕ |
Edge
|
✕ | ✕ |
IE (Legacy)
|
✕ | ✕ |
MacPaint
MacPaint Strengths
- Profoundly historically significant as the format that introduced millions to the concept of bitmap digital painting
- Extremely simple PackBits compression makes it easy for emulator developers or archivists to write parsers from scratch in under an hour
Limitations
- Severely limited: strictly black and white, and hard-locked to exactly 576 x 720 pixels
- Lack of standard magic bytes makes programmatic file sniffing unreliable on modern filesystems without relying on the file extension
- Completely obsolete and unsupported by modern web browsers or consumer image viewers
PaintShop-Pro-PSP
PaintShop-Pro-PSP Strengths
- Provides robust, non-destructive editing capabilities with full support for vector layers, adjustment layers, and layer blend modes
- Historically offered a highly capable and affordable alternative to Adobe Photoshop's PSD format for Windows users
- Features proprietary support for 'Picture Tubes' (.tub), a unique brush technology that paints sequential or random raster objects along a path
Limitations
- Deeply proprietary format tied exclusively to the Corel/Alludo ecosystem
- Third-party software support (like GIMP or ImageMagick) is often limited to parsing older .psp files, frequently failing to render complex layers in modern .pspimage files
- No support in modern web browsers; must be exported to a flattened web format (JPEG/PNG) for online viewing
When to choose which format
MacPaint
Use MacPaint when…
- Historical Apple Macintosh Archival
- Early 1980s Digital Art Preservation
- Retro UI/UX Academic Research
PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Use PaintShop-Pro-PSP when…
- PaintShop Pro Multi-layer Project Archival
- Digital Art and Photo Retouching
- Picture Tubes (.tub) and Custom Patterns (.pat)