(last updated 2009-03-04) Type name: image Subtype name: vnd.radiance Required parameters: None Optional parameters: None Encoding considerations: Binary preferred. This is a binary image type with a text header; "binary" or "base64" are the only reasonable choices. Security considerations: The Radiance HDR file format does not include executable code or scripts; it is a graphics file with an ASCII header. Compression is used, which could crash an image viewer. There is no way to completely rule out the possibility of malicious content, however HDR viewer applications do not usually run with administrator privileges--they seem poor targets for such attacks. Interoperability considerations: byte orders are spelled in the published specification; we expect that Radiance HDR files will be readable on all systems. Published specification: *Radiance File Formats*, available freely at and also as part of Ch 18 of *Rendering With Radiance* (Booksurge/Amazon, ISBN 0974538108). Applications that use this media type: Adobe Photoshop, AHDRIA, AHDRIC, CinePaint, FDRTools, hdrgen, HDR Shop, PFStools, Photosphere, Qtpfsgui, RadDisplay, Radiance, Web HDR Additional information: Magic number(s): Text "#?RADIANCE\n" (octet sequence 23 3f 52 41 44 49 41 4e 43 45 0a) at the beginning of the file. File extension(s): pic, hdr, rgbe, xyze Macintosh file type code(s): Person & email address to contact for further information: rfritz&u.washington.edu Intended usage: COMMON Restrictions on usage: none Author: Randolph Fritz Change controller: Greg Ward (gregoryjward&gmail.com) / The Radiance Lighting Simulation Group Notes: 1. The "pic" extension is also used for Macintosh PICT files; it is deprecated. 2. The rgbe and xyze extensions represent information about the content of the files, and may conflict with the actual content of files. Applications should check. 3. Radiance also uses "?RADIANCE\n" as a tag for its octree files; applications should read the file header to confirm that the file is indeed a Radiance HDR file, as described in the specification. (file created 2009-03-04)