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Image MIME Reference
PCO-B16

PCO B16 Image

image/vnd.pco.b16
VS

Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)

image/x-tga
TGA

A complete technical comparison of PCO B16 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 PCO-B16 TGA
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No ✕ No
ICC Color Profile ✕ No ✕ No
PCO B16 Image
image/vnd.pco.b16
Extension
.b16
Container PCO B16 Binary Container
Compression Uncompressed (Raw Sensor Data)
Algorithm
None
Color Depth 16-bit (Monochrome or Bayer Raw Color)
Developed by PCO AG (Excelitas PCO GmbH)
Released Early 2000s
Magic Bytes
50 43 4F 2D
Full PCO-B16 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 PCO-B16 TGA
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
PCO-B16

PCO-B16 Strengths

  • Preserves exact, uncompressed 16-bit raw sensor data, which is critically important for accurate scientific measurements, fluorescence microscopy, and photometry
  • The simple, linear struct header is highly predictable and easy to parse in custom Python, MATLAB, or C++ scripts for researchers building bespoke pipelines
Limitations
  • Generates massive file sizes due to the complete lack of image compression [1.3.1]
  • Completely unsupported by standard operating systems, web browsers, and consumer image editing suites
  • Strictly tied to the hardware and software ecosystems of a single camera manufacturer
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

PCO-B16
Use PCO-B16 when…
  • Microscopy and Life Sciences
  • High-Speed Camera Recording
  • Machine Vision and Industrial Inspection
  • Scientific Photometry
TGA
Use TGA when…
  • Video Game 3D Textures and Materials
  • 3D Rendering and Animation Sequences
  • Legacy Video Production Workflows

More comparisons

PCO-B16 vs ACES → TGA vs ACES → PCO-B16 vs APNG → TGA vs APNG → PCO-B16 vs AVCI → TGA vs AVCI → PCO-B16 vs AVCS → TGA vs AVCS → PCO-B16 vs AVIF → TGA vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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