png
PNG(5) File Formats Manual PNG(5)
NAME
png - Portable Network Graphics (PNG) formatDESCRIPTION
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is an extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF, and
can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-color, grayscale, and truecolor images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits.
PNG is designed to work well in online viewing applications, such as the World Wide Web, so it is fully streamable with a progressive display option. PNG is robust, providing both
full file integrity checking and fast, simple detection of common transmission errors. Also, PNG can store gamma and chromaticity data for improved color matching on heterogeneous
platforms.SEE ALSO
libpng(3), zlib(3), deflate(5), and zlib(5)
PNG Specification (Third Edition) Candidate Recommendation, March 2025:
https://www.w3.org/TR/2025/CR-png-3-20250313/
PNG Specification (Second Edition), November 2003:
https://www.w3.org/TR/2003/REC-PNG-20031110/
PNG 1.2 Specification, July 1999:
https://png-mng.sourceforge.io/pub/png/spec/1.2/
PNG 1.0 Specification, October 1996:
RFC 2083
https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2083.txt
or W3C Recommendation
https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-png-961001AUTHORS
This man page: Glenn Randers-Pehrson, Cosmin Truta
Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Second Edition) Information technology - Computer graphics and image processing - Portable Network Graphics (PNG): Functional specifica‐
tion. ISO/IEC 15948:2003 (E) (November 10, 2003): David Duce and others.
Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification Version 1.2 (July 8, 1999): Glenn Randers-Pehrson and others.
Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification Version 1.0 (October 1, 1996): Thomas Boutell and others.
April 30, 2025 PNG(5)