PNG is an image file format with lossless compression, advanced transparency options, and a wide range of color support. It was created in response to patent disputes surrounding GIF and has found acceptance in both professional and casual applications. PNGs can be saved with a variety of colors and compensate for variations in color and brightness. Although slow to gain support, PNGs can now be found on web pages and in operating systems and applications.
The term Portable Network Graphics (PNG) can refer to the PNG image file format or images saved in the format. PNG images support a wide range of features, including lossless compression, a wide range of color support, and more advanced transparency options than their predecessors. The Portable Network Graphics format was created as a response to patent disputes surrounding the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF). It was introduced in 1996; although the web was initially slow to support it, NPCs can be found in a variety of places both online and offline.
Computer file formats are essential to our modern use of computers because they provide a standardized way for the computer to recognize what it should do with a particular set of data. Countless different formats are available, including dozens of image file formats. Some of these formats are used only in specialized fields, such as professional image editing or publishing software, while others have found a wide range of uses. The PNG format, pronounced “ping,” has found acceptance in both professional and casual applications.
The available feature set of a file format often contributes to its usage; the PNG format supports a wide range of functions. PNGs can be saved with a lossless compression technique, which means that the file size of an image can be reduced without losing the original quality of the image. PNG’s compression features are so efficient that the file size is usually smaller than it would be using the GIF format. PNGs also feature more advanced transparency options than GIFs, although web browsers were slow to support this feature.
PNGs can also be saved in a variety of colors, ranging from 256 for illustrations and web graphics to truecolor images that can have up to 16.8 million colors. The terms PNG 8-bit and PNG 24-bit, which refer to the number of 1s and 0s that represent each dot or pixel in an image, are sometimes used to distinguish between files with different color numbers. Also included in the Portable Network Graphics format are features designed to compensate for variations in color and brightness between different computers and displays.
The Portable Network Graphics format was created in the mid-1990s in response to patent disputes regarding the compression technique used in GIF images, which were extremely popular on the web at the time. PNG was designed to be a royalty-free format and many webmasters have campaigned for its adoption. The software companies that developed web browsers, however, were slow to add PNG support, and GIFs remained widely used for many years. However, the PNG format was not entirely unsuccessful; it can now be found on web pages and in operating systems and applications where it is commonly used for icons.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
