{"id":"image-x-freehand","mimeType":"image/x-freehand","name":"Macromedia FreeHand Document","shortName":"FreeHand","category":"Vector Graphics \u0026 Legacy","extensions":[".fh",".fh4",".fh5",".fh7",".fh8",".fh9",".fh10",".fh11",".ft11"],"description":"The image/x-freehand MIME type represents document files created by Macromedia FreeHand (and earlier versions by Altsys and Aldus), a highly popular 2D vector graphics editor from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. FreeHand was extensively used for desktop publishing, illustration, and web design layout. Following Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia in 2005, FreeHand was discontinued in 2007 in favor of its direct competitor, Adobe Illustrator. The proprietary binary format stores scalable vector paths, typography, and layout data, but is now considered obsolete.","seo":{"title":"image/x-freehand MIME Type | Developer Reference for Macromedia FreeHand","description":"Complete reference for the image/x-freehand MIME type: Macromedia FreeHand legacy vector format, AGD signatures, libfreehand, and Adobe Illustrator history.","faqs":[{"question":"What is a FreeHand (.fh11, .fh10) file?","answer":"It is a legacy vector graphics project file created by Macromedia FreeHand. It contains scalable paths, text, and page layouts commonly used by graphic designers before Adobe discontinued the software in 2007."},{"question":"How can I open a Macromedia FreeHand file today?","answer":"Modern versions of Adobe Illustrator no longer support FreeHand files natively. The best modern, free solution is to use Inkscape or LibreOffice Draw, which utilize the open-source 'libfreehand' library to import and display legacy FreeHand documents."},{"question":"Why does my file have an extension like .fh8 or .fh11?","answer":"Unlike modern software that uses a single unified extension (like .ai or .psd), FreeHand appended the version number directly into the file extension. For example, a file created in FreeHand MX (Version 11) uses the .fh11 extension."}]},"index":{"compression":["Uncompressed","Deflate (in later versions)"],"browserSupport":{"score":1,"label":"None"},"commonUses":["Legacy Graphic Design Portfolios","Historical Desktop Publishing Archival","Old Corporate Logo Vectors"]},"technical":{"magicBytes":{"hex":"41 47 44 31 to 41 47 44 34","ascii":"AGD1, AGD2, AGD3, AGD4"},"container":"Proprietary Binary (Aldus Graphic Document)","compressionAlgorithm":["None","Deflate (Optional in later versions)"],"colorDepth":["Vector Data (RGB/CMYK)"],"transparency":true,"animation":true,"metadata":{"exif":false,"xmp":true,"iccProfile":true},"alphaChannel":true,"progressiveLoading":false,"hdrSupport":false},"history":{"developer":"Altsys / Aldus / Macromedia","released":"1988","specification":"Proprietary (Reverse-engineered by the Document Liberation Project / libfreehand)"},"browserSupport":{"chrome":false,"chromeVersion":"None","firefox":false,"firefoxVersion":"None","safari":false,"safariVersion":"None","edge":false,"edgeVersion":"None","internetExplorer":false},"softwareSupport":[{"name":"Inkscape (via libfreehand)","logo":""},{"name":"LibreOffice Draw","logo":""},{"name":"CorelDRAW","logo":""},{"name":"Macromedia FreeHand MX (Legacy)","logo":""}],"conversion":{"convertTo":["svg","eps","ai"],"convertFrom":[]},"developer":{"httpHeaders":[{"header":"Content-Type","value":"image/x-freehand"},{"header":"Content-Type","value":"application/x-freehand"}],"htmlAccept":"image/x-freehand, .fh11, .fh10, .fh","fileDetection":["Later versions of FreeHand files (FH8 through FH11) typically begin with the ASCII signature 'AGD' (Aldus Graphic Document) followed by a version digit, e.g., 'AGD3' for FreeHand 10 or 'AGD4' for FreeHand MX (11).","Earlier versions (FH3 to FH7) have varied, complex binary headers and often rely heavily on the file extension (.fh3, .fh4, etc.) for identification.","The format is deeply proprietary and effectively requires the libfreehand C++ library to parse the internal node structures programmatically."]},"prosCons":{"pros":["Historically one of the most powerful and intuitive vector editors on the market, praised for multi-page support long before Adobe Illustrator implemented it","Files are generally compact and self-contained"],"cons":["Completely abandoned proprietary format; Adobe actively blocked native import in modern versions of Illustrator","No support in modern web browsers; must be converted to SVG","Versioning fragmentation means parsers must account for wildly different binary structures depending on the specific .fhX extension used"]},"specifications":{"url":"https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libfreehand","rfc":"","mimeAliases":["application/x-freehand","image/freehand"]},"developerSnippets":{"python":"import magic\n# Libmagic can usually identify FreeHand versions based on their AGD header\nprint(magic.from_file('vector.fh11', mime=True)) # Often outputs 'application/x-freehand' or 'image/x-freehand'","nodejs":"const fs = require('fs');\n// Manually detecting the FreeHand AGD magic bytes\nconst buffer = Buffer.alloc(4);\nconst fd = fs.openSync('vector.fh11', 'r');\nfs.readSync(fd, buffer, 0, 4, 0);\nfs.closeSync(fd);\nconst signature = buffer.toString('ascii', 0, 4);\nconst isFreeHand = signature.startsWith('AGD');\nconsole.log('Is Macromedia FreeHand:', isFreeHand, `(Signature: ${signature})`);","go":"import (\n    \"bytes\"\n    \"os\"\n)\n// Native Go HTTP detection will not recognize FreeHand.\n// You must read the first 4 bytes and verify the AGD signature:\n// isFreeHand := len(buf) \u003e= 4 \u0026\u0026 bytes.HasPrefix(buf, []byte(\"AGD\"))","php":"$mime = mime_content_type('vector.fh11');\necho $mime; // Without updated magic database definitions, this will frequently default to 'application/octet-stream'"},"relatedFormats":["svg"]}