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T.38

T.38 Fax over IP (FoIP)

image/t38 Released 1998 · by ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union)

The image/t38 MIME type represents the T.38 Fax over IP (FoIP) protocol payload. Unlike traditional static image files, image/t38 defines a real-time data stream used to transport Group 3 facsimile communications over IP networks. It is primarily used within Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Session Description Protocol (SDP) messages to negotiate fax transmissions between VoIP gateways and fax servers.

Telecommunications & Fax Production Ready

Technical Specifications

MIME Type
image/t38
Extensions
.t38
Container
UDPTL or TCP (Network Transport)
Compression
Lossless (MH, MR, MMR / T.4, T.6)
Algorithms
MH (Modified Huffman)MR (Modified Read)MMR (Modified Modified Read)
Color Depth
1-bit (Monochrome B&W)
Metadata
None
Capabilities
Transparency
Animation
Progressive Loading
Alpha Channel
HDR Support

Magic Bytes & HTTP Headers

File Signature (Magic Bytes)
None (Network Stream)
ASCII: None
HTTP Headers
Content-Type: application/sdp (containing m=image ... image/t38)
HTML Accept Attribute
accept="None"

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
  • Designed specifically to overcome the timing and packet-loss issues that plague traditional fax over standard VoIP audio codecs (like G.711)
  • Reduces bandwidth requirements by transmitting fax protocol data rather than uncompressed audio tones
  • Universally supported by enterprise SIP trunks and Session Border Controllers (SBCs) for FoIP
Limitations
  • Not an actual image file format, causing confusion due to its 'image/' MIME classification
  • Extremely complex to implement correctly over lossy UDP networks (relies on UDPTL redundancy mechanisms)
  • Zero support in web browsers or standard image viewing software

Developer Code Snippets

# T.38 is a network protocol, not a standard file. To detect it in a network capture, you would parse the SDP using a library like pyshark:
import pyshark
cap = pyshark.FileCapture('fax_call.pcap', display_filter='sdp')
for packet in cap:
    if 'image' in packet.sdp.media_type and 't38' in packet.sdp.media_format:
        print('T.38 Fax Negotiation Detected!')
// Detecting T.38 negotiation in a raw SIP SDP string:
const sdp = 'v=0\r\nm=image 10000 udptl t38\r\na=T38FaxVersion:0\r\n';
const isT38 = /^m=image \d+ udptl t38/m.test(sdp);
console.log(isT38); // true
import "strings"
// Checking for T.38 media descriptor in an SDP payload
func isT38FoIP(sdp string) bool {
    return strings.Contains(sdp, "m=image") && strings.Contains(sdp, "t38")
}
// Standard file detection like mime_content_type() will not work on raw T.38 network dumps. It requires SIP/SDP parser logic.

File Detection Steps

How to programmatically detect a image/t38 file by reading its raw bytes:

  1. 1 T.38 is typically detected via SIP SDP payloads during call negotiation, looking for 'm=image <port> udptl t38'
  2. 2 Network packet inspection (e.g., via Wireshark) identifies UDPTL framing for T.38 payload types

Software Support

W
Wireshark
A
Asterisk PBX
F
FreeSWITCH
H
HylaFAX

Conversion Tools

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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/t.38.json Open JSON
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Frequently Asked Questions

Is image/t38 a standard image file like JPEG or PNG?

No. While classified under the 'image' MIME type tree, image/t38 represents a real-time telecommunications stream (Fax over IP protocol) rather than a standalone image file that you can open in a photo viewer.

How do you view or open a T.38 stream?

T.38 data is typically captured in network traces (like PCAP files) rather than saved as standalone image files. You use network analyzers like Wireshark to inspect the T.38 packets, or VoIP fax servers (like HylaFAX or Asterisk) to decode the stream and save the final output as a TIFF or PDF document.

What kind of image compression does T.38 use?

The T.38 protocol transports standard ITU-T Group 3 fax image compressions, which include Modified Huffman (MH), Modified Read (MR), and Modified Modified Read (MMR) for 1-bit monochrome images.

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