cautiously optimistic. the thing that makes png so sought after is its status as frozen
A new PNG spec
31–40 of 622 posts
Re: A new PNG spec
#32I'm very curious to see how this will end up stacking up vs lossless jpegxl
I doubt it can get anywhere near. What is even the point of a new PNG version if there's something as advanced as JXL that is also royalty-free?
Re: A new PNG spec
#33> I know you all immediately wondered, better compression?. We're already working on that. This worries me. Because presumably, changing the compression algorithm will break backwards compatibility, which means we'll start to see "png" files that aren't actually png files. It'll be like USB-C but for images.
Does usb-c spec break backward compatibility ?, a 2018 macbook work perfectly fine with 2025 usb c charger
I don’t know if it’s the spec or just a plethora of vendors that ignores it, but I have many things with a USB-C port that requires USB-A as source. USB-C to A to C works, yay dongles, but not just C to C.
So maybe it’s not really breaking backwards compatibility, just a weird mix of a port and the communication being separate standards.
Re: A new PNG spec
#34>After 20 years of stagnation, PNG is back with renewed vigor!
After 20 years of success, we can't resist the temptation to mess with what works.
Re: A new PNG spec
#35> I know you all immediately wondered, better compression?. We're already working on that. This worries me. Because presumably, changing the compression algorithm will break backwards compatibility, which means we'll start to see "png" files that aren't actually png files. It'll be like USB-C but for images.
+1 why not name it png4 or something. It's better if compatibility is obvious upfront
I think if they did that, nobody would use it. And anyway, from the article:
> Many of the programs you use already support the new PNG spec: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, iOS/macOS, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer...
It might be too late to rename png to .png4 or something. It sounds like we're using the new png standard already in a lot of our software.
Re: A new PNG spec
#36So animated GIFs can be replaced by Animated PNGs with alpha blending with transparent backgrounds and lossless compression! Some nostalgia from 2000s websites can be revived and relived :) Curious if Animated SVGs are also a thing. I remember seeing some Javascript based SVG animations (it was a animated chatbot avatar) - but not sure if there is any standard framework.
I was under the impression many gifs these days are actually served as soundless videos, as those basically compress better. Can animated PNG beat av1 or whatever?
I doubt it, given png is a lossless compression format. For video thats almost never what you want.
Re: A new PNG spec
#37> I know you all immediately wondered, better compression?. We're already working on that. This worries me. Because presumably, changing the compression algorithm will break backwards compatibility, which means we'll start to see "png" files that aren't actually png files. It'll be like USB-C but for images.
Does usb-c spec break backward compatibility ?, a 2018 macbook work perfectly fine with 2025 usb c charger
Some things don't work unless you use the right kind of USB-C cable.
EG your GPU and monitor both have a USB-C port. Plug them together with the right USB cable and you'll get images displayed. Plug them together with the wrong USB cable and you won't.
USB 3 didn't have this issue - every cable worked with every port.
Re: A new PNG spec
#38So animated GIFs can be replaced by Animated PNGs with alpha blending with transparent backgrounds and lossless compression! Some nostalgia from 2000s websites can be revived and relived :) Curious if Animated SVGs are also a thing. I remember seeing some Javascript based SVG animations (it was a animated chatbot avatar) - but not sure if there is any standard framework.
It seems crazy to think about, but I interviewed with a power company in 2003 that was building a web app with animated SVGs.
Re: A new PNG spec
#39Somebody needs to manage human time/date approximates in a way other people in s/w will align to. "photo scanned in 2025, is about something in easter, before 1940 and after 1920"
The issue that gets me is that Google Photos and Apple photos will let you manually pick a date, but they won't actually set it in the photo EXIF, so when you move platforms. All of the images that came from scans/sent without EXIF lose their dates.
Re: A new PNG spec
#40Somebody needs to manage human time/date approximates in a way other people in s/w will align to. "photo scanned in 2025, is about something in easter, before 1940 and after 1920"
In EXIF, you have DateTimeDigitized [0]
For ambiguous dates there is the EDTF Spec[1] which would be nice to see more widely adopted.
[0] https://www.media.mit.edu/pia/Research/deepview/exif.html