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Image MIME Reference
Sony-SR2

Sony SR2 Raw Image

image/x-sony-sr2
VS

Tagged Image File Format (Legacy MIME)

image/x-tiff
TIFF

A complete technical comparison of Sony SR2 Raw Image and Tagged Image File Format (Legacy MIME) — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature Sony-SR2 TIFF
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
Sony SR2 Raw Image
image/x-sony-sr2
Extension
.sr2
Container TIFF-based (Proprietary)
Compression Uncompressed / Sony Proprietary Lossless
Algorithm
NoneSony Proprietary Lossless
Color Depth 12-bit (Per Channel)
Developed by Sony Corporation
Released 2005
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00
Full Sony-SR2 reference →
Tagged Image File Format (Legacy MIME)
image/x-tiff
Extension
.tiff.tif
Container IFD (Image File Directory) Tag Structure
Compression Uncompressed / LZW (Lossless) / ZIP / Deflate (Lossless) / PackBits (Lossless RLE) / JPEG (Lossy) / CCITT Group 3/4 (Fax/Document)
Algorithm
NoneLZWDeflatePackBitsJPEGCCITT
Color Depth 1-bit (Monochrome), 8-bit (Grayscale or Indexed), 16-bit (Per Channel), 32-bit (Float Per Channel)
Developed by Aldus Corporation (Later acquired by Adobe Systems)
Released 1986
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00 (Little-endian) or 4D 4D 00 2A (Big-endian)
Full TIFF reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser Sony-SR2 TIFF
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
Sony-SR2

Sony-SR2 Strengths

  • Retains raw, unprocessed sensor data from legacy cameras, allowing modern raw processors to extract vastly superior image quality than what was possible in 2005
  • Utilizes a standard TIFF container structure, ensuring that community-maintained open-source decoding libraries (like LibRaw) can easily parse and maintain support for it indefinitely
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete format that has not been utilized in a new camera release in over a decade
  • MIME detection via magic bytes is unreliable due to TIFF header spoofing, requiring deeper EXIF inspection
  • Cannot be natively viewed in web browsers or standard operating system image viewers without specialized decoders
TIFF

TIFF Strengths

  • Universally accepted as the gold standard for high-fidelity archival and professional print workflows
  • Highly adaptable structure supports multiple pages (documents), layers, vast bit depths, and diverse compression algorithms within a single file
  • Unmatched support for rich metadata including EXIF, IPTC, XMP, and custom ICC color profiles
Limitations
  • Produces exceptionally large file sizes compared to modern web formats
  • The 'x-tiff' legacy MIME string forces developers to write extra validation logic to prevent strict security filters from rejecting valid uploads
  • The format's immense complexity means that many lightweight parsers only implement a subset of the specification, sometimes failing to read obscure compressions (like CCITT or old JPEG-in-TIFF)

When to choose which format

Sony-SR2
Use Sony-SR2 when…
  • Legacy Sony Cyber-shot/Alpha Photography
  • Non-destructive Image Post-Processing
  • Raw Imaging Archival
TIFF
Use TIFF when…
  • Professional Print and Desktop Publishing
  • High-Resolution Archival Scanning
  • Master Copies of Digital Photography

More comparisons

Sony-SR2 vs ACES → TIFF vs ACES → Sony-SR2 vs APNG → TIFF vs APNG → Sony-SR2 vs AVCI → TIFF vs AVCI → Sony-SR2 vs AVCS → TIFF vs AVCS → Sony-SR2 vs AVIF → TIFF vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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