The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) just released an update to the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) image format this week. The W3C introduced the initial specifications for this file format in 1996, with the group formalizing the 2003 standard in 2004. This means that it’s been over two decades since it was updated — a virtual eternity in the technological realm. According to ProgramMax, the U.S. Library of Congress, Library and Archives Canada, and the National Archives of Australia recommend PNG for archiving digital images, likely because of its lossless compression. With this amount of trust placed on the file format, it must keep up with the times and ensure that it will continue to help preserve our visual history.
The third edition of the PNG specification introduces three new features: support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) images, animation through Animated PNGs (APNGs), and Exif data storage. This update pushes the file specification into the modern age, making it more competitive against other formats like GIF, WebP, and more. Aside from those, there are already a couple of planned updates — the first one is aiming to improve the way the format handles HDR and Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) interoperability, while the second one is aiming to improve its compression ability.
