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Image MIME Reference
Pentax-PEF

Pentax Electronic File

image/x-pentax-pef
VS

Truevision TGA (Legacy MIME Alias)

image/x-tga
TGA

A complete technical comparison of Pentax Electronic File 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 Pentax-PEF 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
Pentax Electronic File
image/x-pentax-pef
Extension
.pef
Container TIFF-based (Proprietary)
Compression Uncompressed / Proprietary Lossless
Algorithm
NonePentax Proprietary Lossless
Color Depth 12-bit (Per Channel), 14-bit (Per Channel)
Developed by Pentax (now Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd.)
Released 2003
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00 (Little-endian) or 4D 4D 00 2A (Big-endian)
Full Pentax-PEF 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 Pentax-PEF TGA
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
Pentax-PEF

Pentax-PEF Strengths

  • Retains absolute maximum sensor data, enabling massive shadow recovery and highlight protection compared to compressed in-camera JPEGs
  • White balance and sharpening are saved as metadata instructions rather than 'baked in', meaning they can be perfectly adjusted in post-production
  • Utilizes the standard TIFF container structure, making it relatively straightforward for open-source software like LibRaw to parse
Limitations
  • Proprietary format requires continuous updates to third-party processing software whenever Pentax releases a new camera model (unlike the open DNG format)
  • Produces very large file sizes compared to standard web formats
  • 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

Pentax-PEF
Use Pentax-PEF when…
  • Professional Digital Photography
  • Non-destructive Image Post-Processing
  • Pentax Camera Archival
TGA
Use TGA when…
  • Video Game 3D Textures and Materials
  • 3D Rendering and Animation Sequences
  • Legacy Video Production Workflows

More comparisons

Pentax-PEF vs ACES → TGA vs ACES → Pentax-PEF vs APNG → TGA vs APNG → Pentax-PEF vs AVCI → TGA vs AVCI → Pentax-PEF vs AVCS → TGA vs AVCS → Pentax-PEF vs AVIF → TGA vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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