PCX file format: what it is and how to use it

PCX is ZSoft's PC Paintbrush format: the DOS-era image container with RLE compression that powered a generation of clip-art and game graphics. Learn when to use it and what to choose instead.

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What is a PCX file?

A .pcx file is an image in the PC Paintbrush Exchange format, ZSoft's container from the mid-1980s: a 128-byte header then RLE-compressed indexed or RGB planes. It powered DOS-era clip-art, PC game graphics and scanned faxes; its run-length encoding is weak by modern standards but trivially implemented.

When should you use PCX?

  • Reading old archives: clip-art collections, DOS games and fax-era scans.
  • Legacy pipelines: some industrial and embedded tools still emit it.
  • Retro computing: the format period-correct software expects.

When is another format a better fit?

For literally anything modern, PNG: same lossless data, real compression, universal support. For paletted retro work PNG handles that too. PCX survives as a format you decode, never encode.

The short version: PCX is the DOS image ancestor. Convert it to PNG and let it retire.

How to open a PCX file

On Windows

Double-click the file, or open it with IrfanView.

On macOS

GIMP opens PCX files on macOS.

In your browser

Open PCX files right in a browser tab or with the dexrr viewer. No install, no upload.

Also opens in

  • GIMP
  • XnView
  • IrfanView
  • PaintShop Pro

View or convert PCX files

A quick preview or a new format. No install, no upload.

View PCX files Preview and inspect PCX files Convert to PCX Turn files into PCX PCX to BMP Windows Bitmap PCX to TGA Truevision TGA / TARGA PCX to PNG Portable Network Graphics

PCX technical details

Full name
PC Paintbrush
Extensions
.pcx
MIME type
image/x-pcx, image/vnd.zbrush.pcx
Magic bytes
0A
Compression
Lossless
Developer
ZSoft

PCX questions, answered

How do I open a .pcx file?

ImageMagick, GIMP, IrfanView and retro tools read it; modern OS viewers usually do not. dexrr displays and converts pcx files directly in your browser.

Can I convert PCX files online?

Yes, dexrr converts pcx locally in your browser: PCX to PNG for normal use.

Is PCX better than PNG?

Never. PNG is better in every technical dimension. PCX matters only for reading its historical footprint.

Why does my .pcx look wrong after conversion?

Paletted PCX variants sometimes carry quirky palettes. Check the result against the original and convert via a tool that honors the palette.

Is the PCX format outdated?

Yes, a museum piece kept readable because archives still contain it.