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IEF

Image Exchange Format

image/ief Released 1992 · by IETF Network Fax Working Group

The Image Exchange Format (IEF) is a legacy image format defined in RFC 1314. Developed in the early 1990s, it provided a standardized way to transmit bi-level (black and white) fax-like images over the Internet, utilizing the TIFF Class B (TIFF-B) structure.

Legacy & Telecommunications Production Ready

Technical Specifications

MIME Type
image/ief
Extensions
.ief
Container
TIFF Class B (TIFF-B)
Compression
Lossless (MH, MR, MMR) & Uncompressed
Algorithms
MHMRMMRUncompressed
Color Depth
1-bit (Monochrome)
Metadata
None
Capabilities
Transparency
Animation
Progressive Loading
Alpha Channel
HDR Support
Official Specification
Aliases: image/tiff

Magic Bytes & HTTP Headers

File Signature (Magic Bytes)
49 49 2A 00 (Little-endian) / 4D 4D 00 2A (Big-endian)
ASCII: II*. / MM.*
HTTP Headers
Content-Type: image/ief
HTML Accept Attribute
accept="image/ief, .ief"

Browser Support Matrix

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

Advantages & Limitations

Advantages
  • Provided a standard method for exchanging bi-level fax images during the early days of the Internet
  • Supported multi-page documents
  • Leveraged the highly resilient and well-documented TIFF container
Limitations
  • Completely obsolete and unsupported in modern computing environments
  • Strictly limited to 1-bit monochrome data, lacking color or grayscale capabilities
  • Magic bytes overlap completely with standard TIFF, making specific filetype detection difficult without parsing internal tags

Developer Code Snippets

import magic
print(magic.from_file('document.ief', mime=True)) # Will typically resolve to 'image/tiff' due to the shared header
const FileType = require('file-type');
const type = await FileType.fromFile('document.ief');
console.log(type?.mime); // Parsers will likely return 'image/tiff'
import "net/http"
// HTTP detection will fall back to standard TIFF
if bytes.HasPrefix(buf, []byte{0x49, 0x49, 0x2A, 0x00}) || bytes.HasPrefix(buf, []byte{0x4D, 0x4D, 0x00, 0x2A}) {
    fmt.Println("image/tiff (or image/ief)")
}
$mime = mime_content_type('document.ief');
echo $mime; // Most likely outputs 'image/tiff'

File Detection Steps

How to programmatically detect a image/ief file by reading its raw bytes:

  1. 1 Check for standard TIFF headers: 'II*\0' (49 49 2A 00) or 'MM\0*' (4D 4D 00 2A)
  2. 2 Parse the TIFF Image File Directories (IFD) to verify the image uses 1-bit monochrome sample depth (TIFF-B requirements)

Software Support

ImageMagick ImageMagick
J
JHOVE
X
XnView
G
Ghostscript

Conversion Tools

Share & Embed

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[![IEF Format](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/ief/badge.svg)](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/ief)
Interactive iframe Widget
<iframe src="https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/ief/embed" width="100%" height="280" style="border:1px solid #cbd5e1;border-radius:8px;" title="IEF 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/ief.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 magic byte for an IEF file?

Because the IEF standard is defined as a subset of the TIFF format (specifically TIFF-B), it utilizes standard TIFF magic bytes. A file will begin with either 49 49 2A 00 (little-endian) or 4D 4D 00 2A (big-endian).

Is image/ief still used?

No. The Image Exchange Format is considered completely obsolete. It has been superseded by more robust standards like TIFF-FX, standard multi-page TIFF, PDF, and PNG for document exchange.

Can web browsers open IEF files?

No modern web browser supports the IEF format natively. It was designed for legacy internet fax gateways and requires specialized TIFF viewers or conversion to modern formats.

Related Formats

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