PNG(5)                        File Formats Manual                       PNG(5)

NAME
       png - Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format


DESCRIPTION
       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 color space data for improved color matching on
       heterogeneous platforms.


SEE ALSO
       libpng(3), zlib(3), deflate(5), and zlib(5)

       Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Third Edition):

              W3C Recommendation 24 June 2025
              https://www.w3.org/TR/2025/REC-png-3-20250624/

       Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Second Edition):

              ISO/IEC 15948:2004(E)
              https://www.iso.org/standard/29581.html

              W3C Recommendation 10 November 2003
              https://www.w3.org/TR/2003/REC-PNG-20031110/

       Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification Version 1.2:

              Published by the PNG Development Group on 14 July 1999
              https://www.libpng.org/pub/png/spec/1.2/

       Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification Version 1.1:

              Published by the PNG Development Group on 15 February 1999
              https://www.libpng.org/pub/png/spec/1.1/

       Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification Version 1.0:

              IETF RFC 2083, March 1997
              https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2083.txt

              W3C Recommendation 1 October 1996
              https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-png-961001


AUTHORS
       This man page: Glenn Randers-Pehrson, Cosmin Truta, Chris Lilley.

       PNG Specification (Third Edition): Chris Blume et al.

       PNG Specification (Second Edition): David Duce et al.

       PNG Specification Version 1.2: Glenn Randers-Pehrson et al.

       PNG Specification Version 1.1: Glenn Randers-Pehrson et al.

       PNG Specification Version 1.0: Thomas Boutell et al.


                               February 9, 2026                         PNG(5)