MAKIchan Graphics

File Format
Name	MAKIchan Graphics
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Graphics MAKIchan Graphics
Extension(s)	.mag, .max, .mki

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

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

Identification

MAG and MAX files begin with the ASCII signature "MAKI02  ".

MKI files begin with "MAKI01A " or "MAKI01B ".

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

• XnView (MAG format only)
• IrfanView (MAG format only)
• 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)

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)

Links

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