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Image MIME Reference
Nikon-NEF

Nikon Electronic Format

image/x-nikon-nef
VS

Radiance HDR

image/vnd.radiance
Radiance

A complete technical comparison of Nikon Electronic Format and Radiance HDR — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Nikon-NEF Radiance
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No ✕ No
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
Nikon Electronic Format
image/x-nikon-nef
Extension
.nef
Container TIFF
Compression Uncompressed / Lossless Compressed / Lossy Compressed (High Efficiency)
Algorithm
NoneNikon Proprietary LosslessNikon High Efficiency Lossy
Color Depth 12-bit (Per Channel), 14-bit (Per Channel)
Developed by Nikon Corporation
Released 1999
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00 or 4D 4D 00 2A
Full Nikon-NEF reference →
Radiance HDR
image/vnd.radiance
Extension
.hdr.pic.rgbe.xyze
Container Radiance Information Header
Compression Run-Length Encoding (RLE) / Uncompressed
Algorithm
Adaptive Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
Color Depth 32-bit (8-bit per channel RGB + 8-bit shared Exponent)
Developed by Greg Ward (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
Released 1989
Magic Bytes
23 3F 52 41 44 49 41 4E 43 45
Full Radiance reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Nikon-NEF Radiance
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
Nikon-NEF

Nikon-NEF Strengths

  • Retains maximum sensor data, allowing extreme recovery of highlights and shadows that would be permanently lost in a JPEG
  • White balance, sharpening, and color profiling are saved as metadata instructions rather than 'baked in', meaning they can be completely altered in post-production without degrading the image
  • Embeds a high-quality JPEG preview inside the raw file for rapid culling and viewing
Limitations
  • Proprietary format means it requires constant updates to raw processing engines every time Nikon releases a new camera model
  • Produces very large file sizes (often 20MB to 50MB+ per image depending on sensor resolution and bit-depth)
  • Cannot be directly embedded into web pages or used in standard HTML/CSS contexts
Radiance

Radiance Strengths

  • Universally supported by almost every 3D modeling software, renderer, and game engine in existence
  • RGBE encoding offers a brilliant balance between High Dynamic Range capability and small file size (compared to 32-bit float OpenEXR)
  • Simple, easy-to-parse ASCII header followed by straightforward RLE binary data
Limitations
  • Does not support alpha transparency (no way to store an isolated light source with a transparent background)
  • The shared exponent architecture can occasionally introduce banding or color artifacts in extreme edge cases compared to true 16-bit/32-bit floating-point formats like OpenEXR
  • Zero native browser support for 2D viewing

When to choose which format

Nikon-NEF
Use Nikon-NEF when…
  • Professional Digital Photography
  • Non-destructive Image Post-Processing
  • High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging Archival
Radiance
Use Radiance when…
  • Image-Based Lighting (IBL)
  • 3D Environment Maps (HDRI Skydomes)
  • Lighting Simulation
  • VFX and CGI Rendering

More comparisons

Nikon-NEF vs ACES → Radiance vs ACES → Nikon-NEF vs APNG → Radiance vs APNG → Nikon-NEF vs AVCI → Radiance vs AVCI → Nikon-NEF vs AVCS → Radiance vs AVCS → Nikon-NEF vs AVIF → Radiance vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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