MAKIchan Graphics

MAKIchan Graphics (also spelled Maki-chan) is a family of raster graphics formats that were used mainly in Japan. It may be associated with MSX computers. It's been accused of having an overly-complex compression scheme.

There appear to be three main subformats: MKI (or MAKI), MAG, and MAX. MAG is probably the most common. MAX is a slight variant of MAG, and uses a native MSX color model known as YJK.

It is also spelled MAGIchan, though that might be a typo.

Identification
MKI files begin with the ASCII signature "" or "".

MAG and MAX files begin with "".

Specifications

 * MAG format specification (MAG format) (Japanese)
 * Also available as magbible.doc in the mag2png distribution (see below)
 * Maki-chan Graphics (MAG format)
 * MAKI format specification (MKI format) (Japanese)

Software

 * RECOIL
 * Konvertor
 * XnView (MAG format only)
 * IrfanView (MAG format only)
 * XV Jumbo Patches (MAG/MKI) (need to manually enable MAG and MAKI support before compiling)
 * MAG/MKI support is from xv310a-jp-extension-rev5.3.3.tar.gz
 * XV repositories that include this patch: ,
 * mag2png → mag2png-1.01.tgz (from archive.org) (MAG format only)
 * http://cd.textfiles.com/fujitsufree/vol04/DATA/MAGLREX/ - Appears to have source code (C + assembly) for a MAG/MKI decoder
 * GV (old Windows binary; untested)
 * Xee (Macintosh commercial software; untested)
 * Farbfeld Utilities (MKI format only)

Sample files

 * Maki-chan discussion → MAG-MAX_samples.zip, MoreMAGfiles.zip
 * http://www.msxarchive.nl/pub/msx/graphics/mag/ (adult-oriented images)
 * http://www.ateliermw.com/cglib/ewakalst0001.html (adult-oriented; NSFW thumbnails)
 * https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/image/makichan/

Links

 * Forum discussion
 * Maki-chan discussion, links, samples