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Image MIME Reference
AVIF

AV1 Image File Format

image/avif
VS

Pixologic ZBrush PCX

image/vnd.zbrush.pcx
ZBrush-PCX

A complete technical comparison of AV1 Image File Format and Pixologic ZBrush PCX — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

AVIF wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature AVIF ZBrush-PCX
Transparency (Alpha) Yes ✕ No
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
AV1 Image File Format
image/avif
Extension
.avif
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF
Compression AV1 Lossy / AV1 Lossless
Algorithm
AV1
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit
Developed by Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia)
Released 2019
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 61 76 69 66
Full AVIF 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 AVIF ZBrush-PCX
Chrome Chrome
✓ 85+
 ✕
Firefox Firefox
✓ 93+
 ✕
Safari Safari
✓ 16+
 ✕
Edge Edge
✓ 121+
 ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
AVIF

AVIF Strengths

  • Best-in-class compression — typically 20–50% smaller than WebP at equivalent quality
  • Native HDR and wide color gamut (BT.2020) support
  • Supports 8, 10, and 12-bit color depth
Limitations
  • Encoding is highly CPU-intensive — significantly slower than JPEG or WebP
  • Requires Edge 121+ (not supported in earlier Edge versions)
  • Limited support in native desktop image viewers
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

AVIF
Use AVIF when…
  • Next-Gen Websites
  • HDR Photography
  • High-Quality Web Images
ZBrush-PCX
Use ZBrush-PCX when…
  • Legacy ZBrush Alpha Brushes
  • 8-bit Grayscale Displacement Maps
  • ZBrush Texture Exports

More comparisons

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