On Linux, you could use python-magic (http://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-magic/0.1) which uses libmagic to identify file formats.
AFAIK, libmagic looks into the file and tries to tell you more about it than just the format, like bitmap dimensions, format version etc.. So you might see this as a superficial test for "validity".
For other definitions of "valid" you might have to write your own tests.