Learn about supported image formats and their level of functional support.

Introduction

There are different levels of functional support at the format level:

(The numbers for the formats are referenced in the lists below.)

  • read image data (1)

  • read metadata (2)

  • write image data (3)

  • write metadata (4)

  • create previews (5)

  • extract clipping paths (6)

  • retain transparency (7)

  • render watermark (always ImageMagick, see Watermarking notes) (8)

  • extract XMP thumbnails (9)

  • recognize embedded ICC-Profiles (10)


Parameters:

  • installed backend (ImageMagick, Helios, JAI)

  • features installed for the used backend ("delegates" for ImageMagick, OPI or pdfHandshake for Helios)

  • available GhostScript installation

  • colorspaces

  • color depth

  • PDF level

  • layers

  • internal compression (TIFF with LZW/ZIP/JPEG compression)

Supported formats

JPEG

using ImageMagick: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10

using Helios: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10

Known limitations - none

Known issues - see Known issues below.

PNG

using ImageMagick: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8

using Helios: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8

Known limitations - certain ImageMagick versions are extremely slow generating PNG

TIFF

using ImageMagick: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6(?), 8, 10

using Helios: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6(?), 8, 10

Known issues - JPEG compressed files work only with old ImageMagick version

GIF

Known limitations - only basic metadata is extracted, no animation preview

PSD

using ImageMagick: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6(?), 8, 10

using Helios: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6(?), 8, 10

PDF

Known limitations:

  • only raster PDF when writing image data - When exporting files from censhare we write (map) censhare metadata back to the file. For PDF this is done only if the PDF is a special raster (photoshop) PDF.

  • no support for PDF with security features

PS

(see EPS)

EPS (Vector)

using ImageMagick:

Known limitations: false colors when creating CMYK EPS

EPS (Raster)

SVG

using ImageMagick:

Known limitations: only simple SVG structures, never checked with custom fonts

(never checked with Helios)

PICT

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Extraction of XMP thumbnail if there is no InDesign plug-in.

Microsoft Excel/Word/PowerPoint OOXML

Extraction of XMP thumbnail if saved as JPEG.

RAW

RAW formats are usable within censhare only from version 4.2 on. Access is realized through the ImageMagick delegate dcraw.

A list of usable cameras is available on the source page of dcraw.

If preconfigured, censhare accepts the following variants (name/MIME type/extension):

  • Hasselblad 3F RAW Image, image/x-hasselblad-3fr, .3fr

  • Sony Alpha RAW Image, image/x-sony-arw, .arw

  • Canon 2 RAW Image, image/x-canon-cr2, .cr2

  • Canon CIFF RAW Image, image/x-canon-crw, .crw

  • Kodak RAW Image, image/x-kodak-dcr, .dcr

  • Adobe Digital Negative RAW Image, image/x-adobe-dng, .dng

  • Epson RAW Image, image/x-epson-erf, .erf

  • Kodak DC25 RAW Image, image/x-kodak-k25, .k25

  • Kodak DC RAW Image, image/x-kodak-kdc, .kdc

  • Minolta RAW Image, image/x-minolta-mrw, .mrw

  • Nikon RAW Image, image/x-nikon-nef, .nef

  • Olympus RAW Image, image/x-olympus-orf, .orf

  • Pentax RAW Image, image/x-pentax-pef, .pef

  • Fuji RAW Image, image/x-fuji-raf, .raf

  • Sony 2 RAW Image, image/x-sony-sr2, .sr2

  • Sony RAW Image, image/x-sony-srf, .srf

  • Sigma X3F RAW Image, image/x-sigma-x3f, .x3f


censhare creates a basic preview for above mentioned RAW files but does not provide any "development" features (i.e. change exposure, white balance, color, etc.). censhare does not handle additional .xmp files that are created from applications like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom.

BMP

Only if ImageMagick has BMP support.

WebP

Only if ImageMagick has WebP support.

Watermarking notes

For watermarking, there is a general automatic fallback to ImageMagick since Helios or JAI don't support this operation.

Transparency is only retained if the watermark image itself is a PNG with an alpha channel.

Please note that watermarking takes two input images. Supporting watermark as flagged
above for supported formats means that the output image may have a superimposed watermark.

PDF/PS Rasterizer (RIP)

Rasterizing PDF requires either GhostScript (GPL software, not installed by censhare)
or Helios with pdf-Handshake.

Rasterizing PS/EPS requires GhostScript (GPL software, not installed by censhare).

General limitations

Unless otherwise stated or if an actual image format itself is limited to some colorspace
we only recognize RGB, CMYK, Greyscale, Indexed Colors, Bitmap.

Color depth is limited up to 16 bit notwithstanding the limitations of the format itself.

When using JAI as backend their input images may not use CMYK and ZIP compression (TIFF).
Output is only implemented for JPEG and RGB.

Known issues

  • blurry JPEGs with enabled color management and large files (example)

  • inverted colors with JPEG compressed TIFF

  • ICC-Profiles can only be used for transformation between different colorspaces, e.g. from CMKY with SWOP Profile to RGB with Adobe Profile but not from RGB with sRGB Profile to RGB with ECI Profile

  • TIFF with Alpha channels, see e.g. Ticket #2245024

Unsupported

Notable unsupported formats:

  • JPEG2000

  • DCS-1 (preseparated CMYK EPS with 5 individual files)

  • LAB colorspace

Sample data

Please check assets in
censhare-tracker (internal only)