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Image MIME Reference
MIX

Microsoft Image Extension

image/vnd.mix
VS

Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)

image/x-tga
TGA

A complete technical comparison of Microsoft Image Extension 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 MIX TGA
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
Microsoft Image Extension
image/vnd.mix
Extension
.mix
Container Microsoft OLE Structured Storage (COM)
Compression Proprietary (Internal JPEG/RLE)
Algorithm
JPEGDeflateProprietary
Color Depth 8-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit (RGBA)
Developed by Microsoft Corporation
Released 1996
Magic Bytes
D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1
Full MIX 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 MIX TGA
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
MIX

MIX Strengths

  • Allowed early consumer software to non-destructively edit complex compositions involving photos, text, and vector clipart
  • Shared an architecture with other Microsoft Office products, enabling deep integration (OLE embedding) into Word and PowerPoint at the time
Limitations
  • Completely proprietary and undocumented, leading to a massive loss of historical data for users who archived their family photos in this project format
  • Requires traversing a complex OLE filesystem just to extract the flattened raster image
  • No support in modern image editors like Photoshop, GIMP, or web browsers
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

MIX
Use MIX when…
  • Historical Microsoft Picture It! Projects
  • Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000 Graphics
  • Early 2000s Consumer Digital Scrapbooking
TGA
Use TGA when…
  • Video Game 3D Textures and Materials
  • 3D Rendering and Animation Sequences
  • Legacy Video Production Workflows

More comparisons

MIX vs ACES → TGA vs ACES → MIX vs APNG → TGA vs APNG → MIX vs AVCI → TGA vs AVCI → MIX vs AVCS → TGA vs AVCS → MIX vs AVIF → TGA vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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