X-Face
From Just Solve the File Format Problem
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| − | '''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 == | == Discussion == | ||
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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. | 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 | + | 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 | + | 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, | 0x0000,0x0000,0x0000, | ||
| Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
... | ... | ||
| − | + | However, at least one implementation[http://kinzler.com/ftp/faces/compface-win/] 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 == | == 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]] | * [[FFmpeg]] | ||
| + | * [http://www.dairiki.org/xface/ Online X-Face Converter] | ||
== Samples == | == 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. | * [http://faces.sourceforge.net/Documents/faces.txt faces man page], "XFACE SUPPORT" section, has an example. | ||
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* [http://www.cs.indiana.edu/ftp/faces/ Faces Archive] - Lists some X-Face resources | * [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://faces.sourceforge.net/Documents/faces.txt faces man page] | ||
| − | |||
* [[Wikipedia: X-Face]] | * [[Wikipedia: X-Face]] | ||
[[Category:E-Mail, newsgroups, and forums]] | [[Category:E-Mail, newsgroups, and forums]] | ||
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.
Contents |
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 -Xto convert to XBM format) - compface-1.5.2.tar.gz
- compface-25Jan90.tar.gz
- X-Faces for Windows 95/NT
- compface-1.4.tar.gz (
- 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
