Mixed Raster Content

Mixed Raster Content (MRC, or T.44) is a compressed graphics format. It's most often found wrapped up within a container format such as TIFF-FX as a method of compressing image data. It segments the image into different parts to which different compression methods can be used most efficiently. It is standardized by the ITU as T.44 and by ISO as ISO/IEC 16485:2000.

MRC does not define any new compression schemes, but uses existing ones, such as JPEG and JBIG.

Structurally, the format is based on JPEG's system of markers and segments, primarily using "APP13" segments.

Identification
MRC data begins with bytes.

Links

 * Wikipedia article
 * ITU Rec T.44
 * JPEG2000-matched MRC compression
 * Leadtools MRC SDK (commercial; free trial)