PNG file extension

You can open file with PNG using special software abopted to do this. In order to open PNG file download one of the software.

How to open PNG file

The PNG extension is a file format used to store images without losing quality. It's the most popular photo format online because it was specially developed to be used on the internet.

What's inside a PNG file

PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics. The format is used for lossless compression and is considered an alternative to GIF files. However, unlike GIF, PNG files do not support animation.

The PNG format is used for grayscale and full-color photographs and supports transparent layers. The compression used for PNG is usually better than the kind used for GIF. While JPG sometimes offers advantages over PNG, defects may arise after compression in images with text or around high-contrast areas.

How to open a PNG file

You can use any internet browser or graphic editor to open PNG files. Both Windows and macOS have built-in capacity to view these images. Windows Photo Viewer is often used as the default program to open PNG files because it's Windows system software. But there are a lot of other ways to view this type of file.

All browsers (for example, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and others) can automatically display PNG files opened online, which means that you don't need to download each PNG file that you'd like to view to your computer. You can also use your browser to open PNG files already on your computer using the key combination Ctrl + O. Most software also supports drag-and-drop, which means you can drag a PNG file to the browser to open it.

Dedicated graphic editors also offer an autonomous method to opening PNG image files. Some of the most popular ones are XnView, IrfanView, FastStone Image Viewer, Google Drive, Eye of GNOME, and gThumb. PNG files can be edited in almost any of the software previously described, the Paint and Paint.NET apps, the popular utility program GIMP, and Adobe Photoshop.

Converting PNG files

It is possible to change image file type in several ways, both to and from PNG, using various software and online services. Photoconverter is an example of one such PNG editor.

 

PNG Icon
File type:
Portable Network Graphic
Category:
Raster image files

Portable Network Graphic (PNG) format image file with a bitmap of indexed colors stored using lossless compression, similar to a GIF file, but without copyright limitations. It is usually used for saving graphics for Web pictures. This format was developed mainly for increasing color support and for providing graphic format without a patent license in response to limitations with the GIF format. PNG pictures can contain an 8-bit transparency channel that enables the picture colors to fade from opaque to transparent. PNG files cannot be animated like GIF images, but the related MNG format can use animations. PNG files are not intended for use with professional graphics, so they do not have CMYK color support. Most Web browsers are compatible with PNG image format.

Similar file formats and extensions.