PNG Format

What is PNG format?

Files with the .png extension are images saved in a Portable Network Graphic file type. As a GIF file, it contains a bitmap of indexed colors with lossless compression, but without restrictions to copyright. You can find it handy to edit and store graphics and web images with layers such as transparency. Both the Windows and Mac OS platforms have built-in mechanisms for viewing these kinds of pictures. Moreover, you can use any web browser or graphics editor on them.

Main technical characteristics

The format allows you to improve and replace the GIF, and it doesn’t require a license to use it. Unlike the Graphics Interchange, it has alpha support and can store an unlimited number of colors.

You have probably heard of two types of this format. Technically, PNG 24 is optimal for non-ferrous images such as icons, diagrams, drawings, and screenshots. At the same time, the 8th version will be more useful for pics with colors below 256.

You can compresses data without quality loss and store versions of pictures conveniently using this free open-source alternative.