Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
APNG

Animated Portable Network Graphics

image/vnd.mozilla.apng
VS

Pixologic ZBrush PCX

image/vnd.zbrush.pcx
ZBrush-PCX

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

APNG wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature APNG ZBrush-PCX
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 →
Pixologic ZBrush PCX
image/vnd.zbrush.pcx
Extension
.pcx
Container ZSoft PCX
Compression Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
Algorithm
ZSoft Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
Color Depth 8-bit (Grayscale), 24-bit (RGB)
Developed by ZSoft (Format) / Pixologic (MIME Registration)
Released 1985
Magic Bytes
0A 05 01 08
Full ZBrush-PCX reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser APNG ZBrush-PCX
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)
ZBrush-PCX

ZBrush-PCX Strengths

  • Extremely simple, lossless RLE compression makes it trivial to parse and encode programmatically
  • Universally supported by almost every 2D image editor created since the 1990s
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete for modern 3D workflows, which require 16-bit or 32-bit floating-point precision (like OpenEXR or TIFF) to avoid stepping artifacts in displacement maps
  • No support for modern metadata (EXIF/XMP) or native alpha channels
  • Zero native support in modern web browsers

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
ZBrush-PCX
Use ZBrush-PCX when…
  • Legacy ZBrush Alpha Brushes
  • 8-bit Grayscale Displacement Maps
  • ZBrush Texture Exports

More comparisons

APNG vs ACES → ZBrush-PCX vs ACES → APNG vs AVCI → ZBrush-PCX vs AVCI → APNG vs AVCS → ZBrush-PCX vs AVCS → APNG vs AVIF → ZBrush-PCX vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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