X-Face

File Format
Name	X-Face
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Graphics X-Face ; ; ;
Extension(s)	.face, .xface
Released	~1990

Revision as of 16:41, 27 May 2017

X-Face is a compressed image format that can be placed in an email or Usenet newsgroup message header. It is expected to contain the sender's picture or avatar. It is a 48×48 bi-level image. The format appears to be fairly complex, and probably uses arithmetic coding.

Discussion

Although X-Face data is often expected to be stored in a file, there isn't really a standard X-Face file format. The main thing to be aware of is that sometimes the "X-Face:" header name is stored in the file, and sometimes it is not. Different software has different requirements.

File extensions .face and .xface have both been suggested. Sometimes, X-Face data will be in a file named ".face" in the user's home directory.

Although a fair number of open source programs support the format, we have not been able to locate any specifications. Most or all X-Face code is based on James Ashton's Compface software, and Compface's code is fairly opaque.

Compface intermediate format

The Compface software by default converts X-Face to and from a custom format, which it describes as "48 lines each of 3 sixteen bit hexadecimal integers, comma terminated in C initialiser style." It looks something like this:

0x0000,0x0000,0x0000,
0x0000,0x4400,0x0000,
0x0000,0x7600,0x0000,
0x0002,0x6B80,0x0100,
0x0006,0x0440,0x0600,
0x0008,0x0040,0x0E00,
...

However, at least one implementation[1] uses a format that looks like this:

0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,
0x00,0x00,0x44,0x00,0x00,0x00,
0x00,0x00,0x76,0x00,0x00,0x00,
0x00,0x02,0x6B,0x80,0x01,0x00,
0x00,0x06,0x04,0x40,0x06,0x00,
0x00,0x08,0x00,0x40,0x0E,0x00,
...

Software

Compface
- compface-1.4.tar.gz (uncompface -X to convert to XBM format)
- compface-1.5.2.tar.gz
- compface-25Jan90.tar.gz
- X-Faces for Windows 95/NT
FFmpeg
Online X-Face Converter

Samples

https://dev.mutt.org/trac/wiki/MuttGuide/XFace - Search for "compface tao.xbm".
WinFace1_3-src.zip → WinFace/default_face.txt
faces man page, "XFACE SUPPORT" section, has an example.

Links

Faces Archive - Lists some X-Face resources
faces man page
Wikipedia: X-Face

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 |released=~1990
 }}
-'''X-Face''' is a compressed image format that can be placed in an email or Usenet newsgroup message header. It is expected to contain the sender's picture or avatar. It is a 48×48 bi-level image. The format appears to be fairly complex.
+'''X-Face''' is a compressed image format that can be placed in an email or Usenet newsgroup message header. It is expected to contain the sender's picture or avatar. It is a 48×48 bi-level image. The format appears to be fairly complex, and probably uses [[arithmetic coding]].
 == Discussion ==
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 File extensions '''.face''' and '''.xface''' have both been suggested. Sometimes, X-Face data will be in a file named ".face" in the user's home directory.
-Although a fair number of open source programs support the format, we have not been able to locate any specifications whatsoever. Most or all X-Face code is based on James Ashton's ''compface'' software, and compface's code is fairly opaque.
+Although a fair number of open source programs support the format, we have not been able to locate any specifications. Most or all X-Face code is based on James Ashton's ''Compface'' software, and Compface's code is fairly opaque.
-== compface format ==
+== Compface intermediate format ==
-The compface software by default converts X-Face to and from a custom format, which it describes as "48 lines each of 3 sixteen bit hexadecimal integers, comma terminated in C initialiser style." It looks something like this:
+The Compface software by default converts X-Face to and from a custom format, which it describes as "48 lines each of 3 sixteen bit hexadecimal integers, comma terminated in C initialiser style." It looks something like this:
 x0000,0x0000,0x0000,
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
   ...
-Figuring out the byte-order and bit-order is left as an exercise for the reader.
+However, at least one implementation[http://kinzler.com/ftp/faces/compface-win/] uses a format that looks like this:
+x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,
+x00,0x00,0x44,0x00,0x00,0x00,
+x00,0x00,0x76,0x00,0x00,0x00,
+x00,0x02,0x6B,0x80,0x01,0x00,
+x00,0x06,0x04,0x40,0x06,0x00,
+x00,0x08,0x00,0x40,0x0E,0x00,
+ ...
 == Software ==
-* [http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/apps/graphics/convert/compface-1.4.tar.gz compface-1.4.tar.gz] (<code>uncompface -X</code> to convert to [[XBM]] format)
+* Compface
+** [http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/apps/graphics/convert/compface-1.4.tar.gz compface-1.4.tar.gz] (<code>uncompface -X</code> to convert to [[XBM]] format)
+** [http://ftp.xemacs.org/xemacs/aux/compface-1.5.2.tar.gz compface-1.5.2.tar.gz]
+** [https://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/solaris/freeware/SOURCES/compface-25Jan90.tar.gz compface-25Jan90.tar.gz]
+** [http://kinzler.com/ftp/faces/compface-win/ X-Faces for Windows 95/NT]
 * [[FFmpeg]]
+* [http://www.dairiki.org/xface/ Online X-Face Converter]
 == Samples ==
+* https://dev.mutt.org/trac/wiki/MuttGuide/XFace - Search for "compface tao.xbm".
+* [http://kinzler.com/ftp/faces/winface/WinFace1_3-src.zip WinFace1_3-src.zip] → WinFace/default_face.txt
 * [http://faces.sourceforge.net/Documents/faces.txt faces man page], "XFACE SUPPORT" section, has an example.
@@ Line 37: / Line 51: @@
 * [http://www.cs.indiana.edu/ftp/faces/ Faces Archive] - Lists some X-Face resources
 * [http://faces.sourceforge.net/Documents/faces.txt faces man page]
-* [http://www.dairiki.org/xface/ Online X-Face Converter]
 * [[Wikipedia: X-Face]]
 [[Category:E-Mail, newsgroups, and forums]]

X-Face

Revision as of 16:41, 27 May 2017

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