What is CIN?

Kodak Cineon (CIN) is a film scanning format designed for digital intermediate workflows in motion picture post-production.

What is PCX?

PCX (PC Paintbrush) is a legacy raster image format from the early days of DOS, originally created for ZSoft's PC Paintbrush.

When Should You Use CIN vs PCX?

CIN vs PCX: Key Differences

• •CIN uses lossless compression while PCX uses lossless compression — both take the same approach to file size management.
• •Since both CIN and PCX use lossless compression, the quality characteristics are comparable — differences in file size come down to how efficiently each format implements compression.
• •How transparency is handled: PCX supports transparency, so alpha information is preserved during conversion.
• •CIN files are typically Large, 10-30MB per film frame at 4K while PCX files range Moderate, similar to uncompressed formats
• •CIN is optimized for film restoration, digital cinema archiving while PCX is designed for legacy graphics, retro computing — choose based on your specific workflow needs

Advantages of CIN

• ✓At its core, CIN relies on lossless encoding — a design choice that makes it perfect for Film restoration, digital cinema archiving.
• ✓You won't run into compatibility issues with CIN — it's a universal standard across platforms.
• ✓File size management with CIN: larger files guaranteed to match the original exactly.
• ✓Every major application in the Film restoration, digital cinema archiving space supports CIN natively.

Advantages of PCX

• ✓PCX uses lossless compression tailored for Legacy graphics, retro computing.
• ✓PCX is supported natively on virtually every device, browser, and operating system.
• ✓PCX files are bit-for-bit perfect, preserving every pixel and sample for professional work.
• ✓PCX integrates seamlessly with all major creative tools and workflows.

Common Use Cases for CIN to PCX Conversion

• Websites and online content
• Print materials and publications
• Social media posts and ads
• Digital photography and editing
• Graphic design projects
• E-commerce product images

Industry Applications

Best Practices for CIN to PCX Conversion

• →Before converting CIN to PCX, decide whether you need maximum quality or smallest file size — this determines which format truly fits
• →Save a master copy in a lossless format before converting to PCX — you cannot recover detail lost during lossy compression
• →Check the color profile: CIN images may use a wider gamut than PCX supports, causing a visible shift after conversion
• →Resize images to the final display dimensions before converting — this avoids unnecessary processing of oversized files
• →Run a single test conversion first to verify quality meets your standards
• →Strip unnecessary metadata to reduce file size after conversion

Related Article

Troubleshooting CIN to PCX Conversion

• !Converting CIN to PCX gives blurry output → increase the quality setting before conversion
• !Colors look different in PCX than CIN → check color profile mismatch (sRGB vs Adobe RGB)
• !File size changed more than expected → PCX uses different compression, file size differences of 2-5x are normal
• !Transparent areas in CIN turned white in PCX → PCX may not support transparency

Related Image Converters

All Image Formats

More Image tools

Related Tools