MIFF vs PSD
A detailed comparison of ImageMagick MIFF and Adobe Photoshop Document — file size, quality, compatibility, and which format to choose for your workflow.
ImageMagick MIFF
Raster & Vector ImagesMIFF (Magick Image File Format) is the native format of ImageMagick, supporting all of its internal features including multiple image layers, color profiles, and arbitrary metadata. It serves as a lossless interchange format within ImageMagick processing chains.
About MIFF filesAdobe Photoshop Document
Raster & Vector ImagesPSD is the native file format for Adobe Photoshop, storing layered image data, masks, color spaces, and editing metadata. Converting PSD flattens layers into a single composite image.
About PSD filesStrengths Comparison
MIFF Strengths
- Preserves ImageMagick's full fidelity.
- Arbitrary bit depth + color profile.
- Streaming pipeline intermediate.
PSD Strengths
- Preserves every Photoshop feature: layers, masks, adjustments, smart objects, text, effects, styles.
- Backward-compatible — files from 1990 still open in modern Photoshop.
- Industry-standard handoff format between designers, agencies, and prepress.
- Supports 32-bit HDR, CMYK, Lab, Duotone, and spot colors for professional print work.
- Rich metadata, color profiles, and printing instructions survive round-trips.
Limitations
MIFF Limitations
- ImageMagick-only.
- Not a delivery format.
- Large files.
PSD Limitations
- Proprietary — full fidelity only in Adobe tools; other apps approximate.
- File sizes are enormous (hundreds of MB is common for complex documents).
- Not a web format — browsers cannot display PSD natively.
- Binary structure is complex and version-dependent; parsers often lag the latest Photoshop version.
- Hard 2 GB / 30 000 px limit forces professionals to switch to .psb for large artwork.
Technical Specifications
| Specification | MIFF | PSD |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | image/x-miff | image/vnd.adobe.photoshop |
| Extension | .miff | — |
| Native tool | ImageMagick | — |
| Bit depths | Any (ImageMagick-supported) | 1, 8, 16, 32 bits per channel |
| Max dimensions | — | 30 000 × 30 000 px (PSD); 300 000 × 300 000 (PSB) |
| Max file size | — | 2 GB (PSD); 4 EB (PSB) |
| Color modes | — | Bitmap, Grayscale, Duotone, Indexed, RGB, CMYK, Lab, Multichannel |
Typical File Sizes
MIFF
- 1920×1080 8-bit MIFF ~6 MB
- 1920×1080 32-bit float ~25 MB
PSD
- Simple 2-layer logo 500 KB - 3 MB
- Website mockup with 20 layers 20-80 MB
- Magazine spread with hi-res photos 150-500 MB
- Matte painting / CGI composite 1-4 GB
Ready to convert?
Convert between MIFF and PSD online, free, and without installing anything. Encrypted upload, automatic deletion after 2 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
MIFF (ImageMagick MIFF) is an image format used to store raster graphics — a two-dimensional grid of pixels describing a picture. It is part of the raster & vector images family and designed around a specific trade-off between file size, visual fidelity, and feature support (transparency, colour depth, compression type). Photographers, web designers, and content creators choose MIFF when its particular strengths match the publishing target.
PSD (Photoshop Document) is the native file format for Adobe Photoshop. It preserves layers, masks, adjustment layers, paths, and smart objects, making it the industry standard for professional image editing and design workflows.
Most desktop photo viewers (Windows Photos, macOS Preview, GIMP, Photoshop, Affinity Photo) open MIFF natively. On mobile, iOS Photos and Google Photos display MIFF in the gallery when supported by the OS. If the format is rare or new, convert to JPG or PNG first — both are universally readable — using our MIFF to JPG or MIFF to PNG converter.
PSD files open in Adobe Photoshop (full editing), GIMP (free, partial layer support), Photopea (free online editor), and Affinity Photo. For viewing only, XnView and IrfanView work well.
Upload the MIFF to KaijuConverter and pick a target format (JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF, BMP, SVG, PDF). The conversion runs in the browser via ImageMagick and returns a download in seconds. No account or installation required; both input and output delete automatically within two hours.
It depends on the task. JPG is the smallest file size for photographs; PNG is lossless with transparency; MIFF has its own niche that may favour colour depth, animation, or encoding efficiency over one or both of those. For the final web publish, test all three and measure file size plus visible quality on real content.