PNG is back!

https://www.programmax.net/articles/png-is-back/ (by Chris Blume)

A new PNG spec was just released! […]

[…] After 20 years of stagnation, PNG is back with renewed vigor!

What's new?

* Proper HDR support (future‐proof, too!)

* Finally recognizes APNGs (animations!)

* Officially supports Exif data

* General tidying upβ€”fixing errata, clarifications, etc.

#png

@knurd42

>APNG support

I kinda thought we were over this considering animated WebPs and AVIF exist, was there really any interest in bringing back Animated PNGs?

@knurd42 that's super cool.. When can we expect universal integration? Some time after the climate collapse?
@knurd42 Unfortunately literally everyone (including libpng) only implements a fraction of the original PNG spec, so I'm not really hopeful for any of these that weren't already de facto supported like Exif. I doubt extended color spaces would be supported very well in anything but pro photo software where it's already supported, for instance

@nytpu @knurd42

Some of it has already landed in libpng. Other parts are currently landing. :)

@nytpu @knurd42 Even if capabilities are not universally implemented, it's still valuable for the way they are implemented to be standardized and not rely on de facto hacks. I think this is very exciting indeed.
@knurd42 WOWW this is cool as hell thanks for posting about it would have missed it other wise <3
@knurd42 I think we hugged the site to death :(
@knurd42 I thought all of these features and issue mitigations were addressed in the JPEGXL standard?
@knurd42 will i have to buy an app from the windows store just to look at these images? (like heic).
@knurd42 finallyyyyyy been waiting for an HDR spec for so long
@knurd42 Can’t wait for 2045 when all tools will finally have implemented the new version! πŸ€—
@knurd42 can we finally get proper arithmetic coding support?
I know it has been in the spec, but maybe this time.
Also 32 bit png anytime?
@knurd42 APNG is pronounced Jiff.
@knurd42 will it be as successful as YAML1.2?
@knurd42 oh no, they changed something. stop changing existing standards
@knurd42 Ok but APNG with sound when 🀑

@knurd42 I'm very interested in seeing an upgraded #PNG format! Since the official PNG spec seemed stagnant, I was jotting down ideas on an upgraded PNG myself ( https://mooncore.eu/bunny/txt/pngx-eval.htm ), but I guess if the big guys like @ProgramMax are on it, I can wait and see what they come up with. :D

Although if they go with zstd for the new compression, I'll be sad.

Evaluation of PNGX ideas

Evaluation of easy improvements for the PNG image format

@knurd42

I've been using png for a few years now to save photo edits losslessly for working on in different editing programs.

@knurd42
Now how long will it take for the software libraries to catch up?
@knurd42 So basically a lot of things that JpegXL has already tackled?