PNG
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) stores lossless bitmap data in a chain of chunks after an 8-byte signature. Ancillary chunks can hold text and time without changing pixels.
Common uses
- UI graphics
- Screenshots
- Images that need alpha
- Some AI image pipelines
Strengths
- Lossless
- Alpha
- Extensible chunks
Weaknesses
- Large photographs
- Animation is a different format (APNG) with uneven support
Compatibility. Universal for still PNG. APNG and colour-managed PNG vary by application.
Size and quality. Excellent for flat graphics. Poor for camera photos compared with JPEG/WebP/AVIF.
How to open it. Any browser or image editor. Use the PNG chunk inspector to see hidden text.
How to convert it. Image converter for pixels. Chunk inspector and AI tools for metadata.
Security and privacy. Text chunks can contain prompts, URLs, or XSS-looking strings. Render them as text. Do not execute them.
Related tools
- PNG chunk inspector
See every PNG chunk, including the ones that hide prompts.
- Image converter
Convert images on-device, with honest limits for animation and AVIF support.
- AI-image metadata viewer
See whether an image still contains AI prompts — and say so only when it does.
Related comparisons
Last reviewed 16 August 2026.