DjVu

DjVu Document

image/vnd.djvu Released 1996 · by AT&T Labs (Yann LeCun, Léon Bottou, Patrick Haffner, Paul G. Howard)

The image/vnd.djvu MIME type represents the DjVu document format. Developed by AT&T Labs in 1996, DjVu was designed specifically for storing scanned documents containing a mix of text, line drawings, and photographs. It uses advanced image layer separation, compressing high-resolution bi-tonal text using the JB2 algorithm and background images using IW44 wavelet compression, often resulting in files significantly smaller than equivalent PDFs.

Document & Archival Transparency Progressive Production Ready

Technical Specifications

MIME Type

image/vnd.djvu

Extensions

.djvu.djv

Container

Interchange File Format (IFF)

Compression

JB2 (Bi-tonal Text) & IW44 (Wavelet Background) & BZZ (General Data/Text)

Algorithms

JB2IW44BZZ

Color Depth

1-bit (Foreground Text), 24-bit (Background)

Metadata

XMP

Capabilities

Transparency

Animation

Progressive Loading

Alpha Channel

HDR Support

Official Specification

Aliases: image/djvuimage/x-djvuimage/x-djvu-multipart

Magic Bytes & HTTP Headers

File Signature (Magic Bytes)

41 54 26 54 46 4F 52 4D

ASCII: AT&TFORM

HTTP Headers

Content-Type: image/vnd.djvu

HTML Accept Attribute

accept="image/vnd.djvu, image/djvu, image/x-djvu, .djvu, .djv"

Browser Support Matrix

Browser	Status	Min Version
Chrome	Not Supported	—
Firefox	Not Supported	—
Safari	Not Supported	—
Edge	Not Supported	—
Internet Explorer	Not Supported	Legacy

Advantages & Limitations

Advantages

Unmatched compression ratios for high-resolution scanned documents (often 5 to 10 times smaller than equivalent JPEG/TIFF-based PDFs)
Separates text layers cleanly from backgrounds, allowing for highly legible text even at low file sizes
Embedded OCR (Optical Character Recognition) text layers allow for fast searching

Limitations

Lacks native support in modern operating systems and web browsers, requiring third-party software
Largely superseded by PDF/A and modern PDF compression standards in standard corporate workflows
Not suitable for vector graphics or born-digital documents (like Word exports), where standard PDF is far superior

Developer Code Snippets

import magic
print(magic.from_file('scanned_book.djvu', mime=True)) # Outputs 'image/vnd.djvu'

const FileType = require('file-type');
const type = await FileType.fromFile('scanned_book.djvu');
console.log(type.mime); // Outputs 'image/vnd.djvu'

import "net/http"
// Custom byte check required for DjVu:
// isDjvu := bytes.HasPrefix(buf, []byte("AT&TFORM"))

$mime = mime_content_type('scanned_book.djvu');
echo $mime; // Standard environments resolve this to 'image/vnd.djvu'

File Detection Steps

How to programmatically detect a image/vnd.djvu file by reading its raw bytes:

1 Check the first 8 bytes for the 'AT&TFORM' identifier (41 54 26 54 46 4F 52 4D)
2 Read bytes 12-15 to confirm the secondary identifier is 'DJVU' or 'DJVM'

Software Support

D

DjView

E

Evince

S

Sumatra PDF

ImageMagick

Conversion Tools

Share & Embed

Markdown Badge

[![DjVu Format](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/djvu/badge.svg)](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/djvu)

Interactive iframe Widget

<iframe src="https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/djvu/embed" width="100%" height="280" style="border:1px solid #cbd5e1;border-radius:8px;" title="DjVu Specs"></iframe>

JSON API

All data on this page is available as a free, open JSON API. Use it in your project, documentation, or tooling.

GET https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/djvu.json Open JSON

Free to use

No auth required

CORS enabled

Use from any domain

Cached 24h

Cache-Control headers set

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between DjVu and PDF?

While both formats are used for document distribution, DjVu was engineered specifically for scanned documents. It separates the document into a high-resolution foreground (text/lines) and a lower-resolution background (images/paper texture), compressing each optimally. This historically made DjVu files much smaller and faster to load over slow connections than early scanned PDFs, though modern PDF workflows have largely caught up.

What is the magic byte for a DjVu file?

DjVu files use a variant of the Electronic Arts IFF format. They begin with the 8-byte ASCII string 'AT&TFORM' (hex: 41 54 26 54 46 4F 52 4D), followed by a 4-byte file length, and then either 'DJVM' (for multi-page) or 'DJVU' (for single-page).

Are DjVu files supported in web browsers?

No modern web browser supports DjVu natively. Historically, users relied on the proprietary DjVu Browser Plug-in. Today, developers usually convert DjVu to PDF on the server or use specialized JavaScript decoders (like djvu.js) to render them in the browser.