Free webp to jpg
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Image MIME Reference
APNG

Animated Portable Network Graphics

image/vnd.mozilla.apng
VS

Tencent TAP Image

image/vnd.tencent.tap
Tencent-TAP

A complete technical comparison of Animated Portable Network Graphics and Tencent TAP Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

APNG wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature APNG Tencent-TAP
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading Yes ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
Animated Portable Network Graphics
image/vnd.mozilla.apng
Extension
.apng.png
Container PNG Chunk Stream
Compression Deflate (Lossless)
Algorithm
Deflate (zlib)
Color Depth 8-bit (Indexed), 24-bit (TrueColor), 32-bit (RGBA)
Developed by Mozilla Corporation (Stuart Parmenter & Vladimir Vukićević)
Released 2004
Magic Bytes
89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A
Full APNG reference →
Tencent TAP Image
image/vnd.tencent.tap
Extension
.tap
Container Proprietary Tencent Container
Compression Unknown (Proprietary)
Algorithm
Unknown
Color Depth Unknown
Developed by Tencent (Registered by Ni Hui)
Released 2014
Magic Bytes
Unknown (Proprietary)
Full Tencent-TAP reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser APNG Tencent-TAP
Chrome Chrome
✓ 59
 ✕
Firefox Firefox
✓ 3
 ✕
Safari Safari
✓ 8
 ✕
Edge Edge
✓ 79
 ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
APNG

APNG Strengths

  • Supports 8-bit alpha transparency, completely solving the ugly 'white halo' problem inherent to GIFs
  • Gracefully degrades; viewers that do not support APNG will render a perfectly valid, static PNG of the first frame
  • Provides lossless compression that retains absolute pixel-perfect quality for UI elements and line art
Limitations
  • Because it relies on lossless Deflate compression, file sizes for complex, video-like animations can be massive compared to lossy formats like WebP or AVIF
  • Was initially rejected by the official PNG group, delaying its adoption for nearly a decade
  • Lacks native hardware decoding acceleration, unlike video-based animated formats (like MP4 or WebM)
Tencent-TAP

Tencent-TAP Strengths

  • Officially registered with IANA, ensuring a unique MIME type identifier for internal Tencent network routing and content negotiation
Limitations
  • Completely undocumented and closed-source, making it impossible to decode or parse outside of Tencent's software
  • Shares its file extension (.tap) with numerous other established legacy formats, leading to frequent automated file misidentification by Node/Python libraries

When to choose which format

APNG
Use APNG when…
  • High-Quality Web Animations
  • Stickers (Apple iMessage, LINE, Discord)
  • UI Loaders with Alpha Transparency
  • GIF Replacement
Tencent-TAP
Use Tencent-TAP when…
  • Internal Tencent Ecosystem Applications
  • Proprietary Mobile or Gaming Assets

More comparisons

APNG vs ACES → Tencent-TAP vs ACES → APNG vs AVCI → Tencent-TAP vs AVCI → APNG vs AVCS → Tencent-TAP vs AVCS → APNG vs AVIF → Tencent-TAP vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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