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Image MIME Reference
Minolta-MRW

Minolta Raw Image

image/x-minolta-mrw
VS

X Pixmap

image/x-xpixmap
XPM

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

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Minolta-MRW XPM
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 →
X Pixmap
image/x-xpixmap
Extension
.xpm
Container C Source Code Header (.c / .h)
Compression Uncompressed (Source Code)
Algorithm
None
Color Depth Indexed Color (Custom Palette with RGB and Alpha 'None')
Developed by Daniel Dardailler and Colas Nahaboo (Bull / X Consortium)
Released 1989
Magic Bytes
2F 2A 20 58 50 4D 20 2A 2F (ASCII '/* XPM */')
Full XPM reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Minolta-MRW XPM
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
XPM

XPM Strengths

  • Can be compiled directly into C or C++ source code without requiring an external asset loading mechanism
  • Human-readable palette mapping allows developers to inspect, modify, or hand-craft icons directly within a text editor
  • Native support for color palettes and transparency via the 'None' keyword
Limitations
  • Extremely inefficient storage structure for large images, resulting in massive file bloat compared to binary formats like PNG
  • Completely obsolete and unsupported in modern web browsers
  • Parsing overhead requires compiling or interpreting text-based color tables at runtime

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
XPM
Use XPM when…
  • X Window System (X11) Application Icons and Cursors
  • Embedded C/C++ Firmware Color UI Assets
  • Early Linux Desktop Environment Themes

More comparisons

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