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Image MIME Reference
Minolta-MRW

Minolta Raw Image

image/x-minolta-mrw
VS

Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)

image/x-tga
TGA

A complete technical comparison of Minolta Raw Image 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 Minolta-MRW TGA
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
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 →
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 Minolta-MRW TGA
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
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

Minolta-MRW
Use Minolta-MRW when…
  • Vintage Digital Photography (Konica Minolta DiMAGE / Maxxum)
  • Raw Imaging Archival
  • Historical Camera Sensor Research
TGA
Use TGA when…
  • Video Game 3D Textures and Materials
  • 3D Rendering and Animation Sequences
  • Legacy Video Production Workflows

More comparisons

Minolta-MRW vs ACES → TGA vs ACES → Minolta-MRW vs APNG → TGA vs APNG → Minolta-MRW vs AVCI → TGA vs AVCI → Minolta-MRW vs AVCS → TGA vs AVCS → Minolta-MRW vs AVIF → TGA vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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