Seattle FilmWorks

2020-07-02T21:12:41Z

307bj: Added .#xx to extensions list in upper right corner

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Graphics
|extensions={{ext|sfw}}, {{ext|pwp}}, {{ext|pwm}}, {{ext|alb}}, {{ext|#xx}}
|pronom={{PRONOM|fmt/1104}}
|released=~1994
}}
[[Seattle FilmWorks]], later renamed PhotoWorks, was a mail order film processing company. Digitized photographs made by the company used a family of proprietary raster image formats known as '''SFW''' and '''PWP''' (PhotoWorks PhotoMail). The most common formats are based on [[JPEG]], and can be converted to JPEG format without further loss of image quality.

There are at least three different SFW formats, and one PWP format. The are also at least two other related formats that don't directly contain images: '''.pwm''' and '''.alb'''.

By 2003 PhotoWorks stopped using the SFW format.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20030403194535/http://www.photoworks.com/Support/FAQs/Default.aspx?FAQ=POD</ref>

== Formats ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Format
! Signature
! Notes
|-
|"SFW93A" SFW, .#xx || <code>SFW93A</code> || Used briefly, up to sometime in 1994. File extension may be .#xx, where xx is the picture number from the camera roll.
|-
|"SFW94A" SFW, compressed ||rowspan="3"| <code>SFW94A</code> || Based on [[JPEG]]. The most widely supported format.
|-
|"SFW94A" SFW, uncompressed || Based on [[BMP]].
|-
|.pwm || Not an image format.
|-
|PWP || <code>SFW95B</code> || Container format for multiple SFW images.
|-
|"SFW98A" SFW || <code>SFW98A</code> || Based on [[JPEG]] with [[arithmetic coding]]. Caution: Some utilities reportedly extract only the thumbnail image.
|-
|.alb || <code>SFW_ALB</code> || Not an image format.
|}

== Identification ==
Files begin with an ASCII signature (see the Formats section), but it's not always sufficient to determine the specific format.

The sfwwhichfmt.c utility listed in the Software section below may be helpful.

== Screenshots ==
[[Image:Photoworks2.41-OpenDialog.png|240px]]

== Software ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000511205723/http://www.photoworks.com/photoworks/software/PhotoworksDesktop.asp?circ=1 PhotoWorks Desktop software version 2.41 for Windows 95/98]
* [http://jonesrh.info/sfw/index.html jonesrh .sfw conversion portal] - Has information about conversion software
** [http://jonesrh.info/sfw/sfwwhichfmt.c sfwwhichfmt.c] - Utility to display information about SFW/PWP files.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130603014126/http://www.lipman.org/software/sfw/ File format conversion software for Seattle FilmWorks products] → [https://web.archive.org/web/20130603014126/http://www.lipman.org/software/sfw/sfwjpg-unix.tar sfwjpg-unix.tar] (from archive.org)
** [http://www.joenord.com/apps/sfwjpg/ SFWJPG] (Windows version of sfwjpg-unix.tar)
* [[ImageMagick]]
* [[Konvertor]]
* [[XnView]]

== Links ==
* [http://jonesrh.info/sfw/index.html jonesrh .sfw conversion portal]
* [[Wikipedia:Seattle FilmWorks|Wikipedia: Seattle FilmWorks]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000511114258/http://www.photoworks.com/support/faq/softwarefaq.asp PhotoWorks software FAQ (archived)]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:JPEG]]

Seattle FilmWorks

2020-07-02T21:07:16Z

307bj: Changed info on SFW93A, based on personal experience with a Seattle FilmWorks disk from May 1994 and information from jonesrh.info/sfw

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Graphics
|extensions={{ext|sfw}}, {{ext|pwp}}, {{ext|pwm}}, {{ext|alb}}
|pronom={{PRONOM|fmt/1104}}
|released=~1994
}}
[[Seattle FilmWorks]], later renamed PhotoWorks, was a mail order film processing company. Digitized photographs made by the company used a family of proprietary raster image formats known as '''SFW''' and '''PWP''' (PhotoWorks PhotoMail). The most common formats are based on [[JPEG]], and can be converted to JPEG format without further loss of image quality.

There are at least three different SFW formats, and one PWP format. The are also at least two other related formats that don't directly contain images: '''.pwm''' and '''.alb'''.

By 2003 PhotoWorks stopped using the SFW format.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20030403194535/http://www.photoworks.com/Support/FAQs/Default.aspx?FAQ=POD</ref>

== Formats ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Format
! Signature
! Notes
|-
|"SFW93A" SFW, .#xx || <code>SFW93A</code> || Used briefly, up to sometime in 1994. File extension may be .#xx, where xx is the picture number from the camera roll.
|-
|"SFW94A" SFW, compressed ||rowspan="3"| <code>SFW94A</code> || Based on [[JPEG]]. The most widely supported format.
|-
|"SFW94A" SFW, uncompressed || Based on [[BMP]].
|-
|.pwm || Not an image format.
|-
|PWP || <code>SFW95B</code> || Container format for multiple SFW images.
|-
|"SFW98A" SFW || <code>SFW98A</code> || Based on [[JPEG]] with [[arithmetic coding]]. Caution: Some utilities reportedly extract only the thumbnail image.
|-
|.alb || <code>SFW_ALB</code> || Not an image format.
|}

== Identification ==
Files begin with an ASCII signature (see the Formats section), but it's not always sufficient to determine the specific format.

The sfwwhichfmt.c utility listed in the Software section below may be helpful.

== Screenshots ==
[[Image:Photoworks2.41-OpenDialog.png|240px]]

== Software ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000511205723/http://www.photoworks.com/photoworks/software/PhotoworksDesktop.asp?circ=1 PhotoWorks Desktop software version 2.41 for Windows 95/98]
* [http://jonesrh.info/sfw/index.html jonesrh .sfw conversion portal] - Has information about conversion software
** [http://jonesrh.info/sfw/sfwwhichfmt.c sfwwhichfmt.c] - Utility to display information about SFW/PWP files.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130603014126/http://www.lipman.org/software/sfw/ File format conversion software for Seattle FilmWorks products] → [https://web.archive.org/web/20130603014126/http://www.lipman.org/software/sfw/sfwjpg-unix.tar sfwjpg-unix.tar] (from archive.org)
** [http://www.joenord.com/apps/sfwjpg/ SFWJPG] (Windows version of sfwjpg-unix.tar)
* [[ImageMagick]]
* [[Konvertor]]
* [[XnView]]

== Links ==
* [http://jonesrh.info/sfw/index.html jonesrh .sfw conversion portal]
* [[Wikipedia:Seattle FilmWorks|Wikipedia: Seattle FilmWorks]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000511114258/http://www.photoworks.com/support/faq/softwarefaq.asp PhotoWorks software FAQ (archived)]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:JPEG]]

Just Solve the File Format Problem - User contributions [en]

Seattle FilmWorks

Seattle FilmWorks