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Image MIME Reference
TIFF-FX

TIFF for Facsimile eXtended

image/tiff-fx
VS

Windows Metafile

image/x-wmf
WMF

A complete technical comparison of TIFF for Facsimile eXtended and Windows Metafile — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature TIFF-FX WMF
Transparency (Alpha) ✕ No Yes
Animation Support ✕ No ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata ✕ No ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
TIFF for Facsimile eXtended
image/tiff-fx
Extension
.tiff.tif
Container TIFF 6.0 Tag Directory Structure
Compression MH / MR / MMR (CCITT Group 3 & 4) / JBIG / JPEG
Algorithm
CCITT Group 3/4JBIGJPEG
Color Depth 1-bit (Monochrome B&W), 8-bit (Grayscale/Color Indexed), 24-bit (RGB Color)
Developed by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
Released 1998
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00 (Little-Endian) / 4D 4D 00 2A (Big-Endian)
Full TIFF-FX reference →
Windows Metafile
image/x-wmf
Extension
.wmf.emf
Container Windows GDI Metafile Command Stream
Compression Uncompressed (Command Stream)
Algorithm
None
Color Depth Varies based on GDI rendering engine
Developed by Microsoft Corporation
Released 1990
Magic Bytes
D7 CD C6 9A (Aldus Placeable Metafile Header) or 01 00 09 00 (Standard WMF Header)
Full WMF reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser TIFF-FX WMF
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕
✓
TIFF-FX

TIFF-FX Strengths

  • Provides a universal, standardized format for transmitting multi-page documents over IP networks and email (Internet Fax)
  • Supports highly efficient telecom-centric compression algorithms (MMR, JBIG) that produce very small files for text documents
  • Maintains backwards compatibility with standard TIFF parsers
Limitations
  • Not supported natively by web browsers
  • Requires complex parsing of TIFF IFD tags to differentiate a true TIFF-FX file from a standard TIFF file
  • Usage is slowly declining as traditional faxing is replaced by secure PDF transmission and e-signature platforms
WMF

WMF Strengths

  • Infinitely scalable vector format that remains remarkably compact for simple geometric illustrations and charts
  • Historically served as a seamless conduit for copying and pasting vector graphics between disparate Windows applications via the system clipboard
Limitations
  • Notoriously plagued by historic security vulnerabilities, making raw WMF parsing a vector for exploits in legacy software
  • Completely obsolete and unsupported in modern web environments (browsers cannot render them)
  • Strictly tied to the Windows GDI architecture, making cross-platform rendering inconsistent across Linux and macOS

When to choose which format

TIFF-FX
Use TIFF-FX when…
  • Internet Fax (T.37)
  • Enterprise Fax Servers
  • Document Archiving
  • Telecommunications
WMF
Use WMF when…
  • Legacy Microsoft Office Clip Art and Icons
  • Windows GDI Graphics Export
  • Early Windows Desktop Publishing

More comparisons

TIFF-FX vs ACES → WMF vs ACES → TIFF-FX vs APNG → WMF vs APNG → TIFF-FX vs AVCI → WMF vs AVCI → TIFF-FX vs AVCS → WMF vs AVCS → TIFF-FX vs AVIF → WMF vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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