Digital Picture Exchange
image/dpx
Released 1994
· by SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers)
DPX (Digital Picture Exchange) is a raster image format standardized by SMPTE. Originally derived from Kodak's Cineon format, it is the worldwide standard for uncompressed, high-resolution digital film scanning, visual effects, and digital intermediate color grading.
Technical Specifications
.dpx
Uncompressed
image/x-dpx
Magic Bytes & HTTP Headers
SDPX / XPDS
Browser Support Matrix
| Browser | Status | Min Version |
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Not Supported | — |
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Not Supported | — |
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Not Supported | — |
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Not Supported | — |
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Not Supported | Legacy |
Advantages & Limitations
- Industry standard for transferring uncompressed, high-fidelity film and VFX data
- Rich industry-specific metadata including timecode, keykode, and film stock information
- Supports logarithmic color spaces (LogC, Cineon) to preserve the massive dynamic range of film negatives
- Massive file sizes (e.g., a single 4K 10-bit frame is ~50MB, resulting in ~1.2GB per second at 24fps)
- Zero native support in web browsers or consumer OS image viewers
- Requires heavy-duty, fast storage infrastructure (RAID/NVMe) to playback in real-time
Developer Code Snippets
File Detection Steps
How to programmatically detect a image/dpx
file by reading its raw bytes:
- 1 Check first 4 bytes for 'SDPX' or 'XPDS'
- 2 Parse the 2048-byte fixed-size binary header for image dimensions, color space, and SMPTE metadata (like timecode and keykode)
Software Support
ImageMagick
Conversion Tools
Share & Embed
[](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/dpx)
<iframe src="https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/dpx/embed" width="100%" height="280" style="border:1px solid #cbd5e1;border-radius:8px;" title="DPX 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/dpx.json
Open JSON
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the magic byte for a DPX file?
DPX files begin with a 4-byte magic signature indicating their endianness. Big-endian files start with 53 44 50 58 (ASCII: SDPX), while little-endian files start with 58 50 44 53 (ASCII: XPDS).
Is DPX supported in web browsers?
No. DPX is a massive, uncompressed professional format designed for motion picture production. It has no native support in any web browser and must be converted to formats like JPEG, PNG, or WebP for web delivery.
What is the difference between DPX and Cineon (.cin)?
DPX is an evolution of Kodak's older Cineon format. While they are very similar and both represent logarithmic color data, DPX includes a much more robust metadata header standardized by SMPTE, accommodating a wider variety of color spaces and bit depths.