Computing Dictionary
Portable Network Graphics definition
file format /ping/ (PNG) 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-colour,
greyscale and
truecolour images are supported, plus an optional
alpha channel. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits.
PNG is designed for on-line 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 simple detection of common transmission errors. Also, PNG can store
gamma correction and
chromaticity data for improved colour matching on heterogeneous
platforms.
Filename extension: .png.
RFC 2083.
W3C PNG pages (http://w3.org/Graphics/PNG/).
PNG home page (http://wco.com/~png/).
(1997-08-07)