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Image MIME Reference
Olympus-ORF

Olympus Raw Format

image/x-olympus-orf
VS

Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)

image/x-tga
TGA

A complete technical comparison of Olympus Raw Format 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 Olympus-ORF 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
Olympus Raw Format
image/x-olympus-orf
Extension
.orf
Container TIFF-based (with proprietary variants)
Compression Uncompressed / Proprietary Lossless
Algorithm
NoneOlympus Proprietary Lossless
Color Depth 12-bit (Per Channel)
Developed by Olympus Corporation (Now OM Digital Solutions)
Released 2000
Magic Bytes
49 49 52 4F (IIRO) or 4D 4D 4F 52 (MMOR) or 49 49 53 52 (IIRS)
Full Olympus-ORF 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 Olympus-ORF TGA
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
Olympus-ORF

Olympus-ORF 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, meaning they can be completely altered in post-production
  • Unique magic byte signatures make programmatic file sniffing highly reliable compared to other camera manufacturers' TIFF-spoofing headers
Limitations
  • Proprietary format means it requires constant updates to raw processing engines every time a new camera model is released
  • Produces very large file sizes (often 15MB to 30MB+ per image depending on sensor resolution)
  • Cannot be directly embedded into web pages or used in standard HTML/CSS contexts
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

Olympus-ORF
Use Olympus-ORF when…
  • Professional Digital Photography
  • Non-destructive Image Post-Processing
  • High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging Archival
TGA
Use TGA when…
  • Video Game 3D Textures and Materials
  • 3D Rendering and Animation Sequences
  • Legacy Video Production Workflows

More comparisons

Olympus-ORF vs ACES → TGA vs ACES → Olympus-ORF vs APNG → TGA vs APNG → Olympus-ORF vs AVCI → TGA vs AVCI → Olympus-ORF vs AVCS → TGA vs AVCS → Olympus-ORF vs AVIF → TGA vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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