Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
Minolta-MRW

Minolta Raw Image

image/x-minolta-mrw
VS

PaintShop Pro Image

image/x-paintshoppro
PaintShop-Pro-PSP

A complete technical comparison of Minolta Raw 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 Minolta-MRW PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
Minolta Raw Image
image/x-minolta-mrw
Extension
.mrw
Container Proprietary MRW Container
Compression Uncompressed / Proprietary Lossless
Algorithm
NoneProprietary Lossless
Color Depth 12-bit (Per Channel)
Developed by Minolta (later Konica Minolta)
Released 2001
Magic Bytes
00 4D 52 4D
Full Minolta-MRW reference →
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
Full PaintShop-Pro-PSP reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Minolta-MRW PaintShop-Pro-PSP
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
Minolta-MRW

Minolta-MRW Strengths

  • Retains full, unadulterated sensor data from early CCD digital cameras, allowing modern demosaicing algorithms to extract far superior image quality than what was possible when the cameras were released
  • Possesses a very distinct, unambiguous magic header (\x00MRM), making programmatic identification completely foolproof
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete proprietary format that has not seen a new camera release since 2006
  • Cannot be natively viewed in web browsers or standard operating system image viewers without specialized decoders
  • Relies entirely on open-source reverse engineering (like LibRaw) for continued modern software compatibility
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

Minolta-MRW
Use Minolta-MRW when…
  • Vintage Digital Photography (Konica Minolta DiMAGE / Maxxum)
  • Raw Imaging Archival
  • Historical Camera Sensor 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)

More comparisons

Minolta-MRW vs ACES → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs ACES → Minolta-MRW vs APNG → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs APNG → Minolta-MRW vs AVCI → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVCI → Minolta-MRW vs AVCS → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVCS → Minolta-MRW vs AVIF → PaintShop-Pro-PSP vs AVIF → All comparisons →
Share this comparison