Portable Network Graphics

family of lossless compression bitmap image file formats
Place iso_standard Q178051
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Summary

Portable Network Graphics is an ISO standard[1]. It ranks in the top 4% of iso standard entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (8,035 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • Instance of: lossless compression[3], image compression[4], raster-graphics file format[5]
  • Based on: DEFLATE[6]
  • Subclass of: raster-graphics file format[7]
  • Software version identifier: PBF draft 1[8], PBF draft 2[9], PBF draft 3[10], PBF draft 4[11], PBF draft 5[12], PBF draft 6[13], PBF draft 7[14], PBF draft 8[15], PBF draft 9[16], PBF draft 10[17], 0.92[18], 0.95[19], 1.0[20], 2.0[21]
  • Has use: image compression[22]
  • Commons category: Portable Network Graphics[23]
  • Has part(s): Portable Network Graphics, version 1.0[24], Portable Network Graphics, version 1.1[25], Portable Network Graphics, version 1.2[26], Multiple-image Network Graphics[27]
  • Publication date: October 1, 1996[28]
  • Official website: http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/[29], http://png-mng.sourceforge.net/pub/png/[30]
  • Described at URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/synalysis/Grammars/master/png.grammar[31], https://www.sweetscape.com/010editor/repository/files/PNG.bt[32], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/haypo/hachoir3/master/hachoir/parser/image/png.py[33], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaitai-io/kaitai_struct_formats/master/image/png.ksy[34], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wader/fq/master/format/png/png.go[35], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/binspector/binspector/master/bfft/png.bfft[36]
  • Media type: image/png[37]
  • File extension: png[38]
  • Described by source: Compressed Image File Formats[39], RFC 2083: PNG (Portable Network Graphics) Specification Version 1.0[40]
  • Replaces: Portable Bitmap Format[41]
  • Standards body: World Wide Web Consortium[42]
  • Stack Exchange tag: https://stackoverflow.com/tags/png[43]
  • Endianness: big endian[44]
  • File format identification pattern: 89504E470D0A1A0A[45]
  • Derivative work: APNG[46], Multiple-image Network Graphics[47]

Why It Matters

Portable Network Graphics has Wikipedia articles in 29 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[48] It is known by 54 alternative names across languages and contexts.[49]

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [6] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  5. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [8] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  7. [9] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  8. [10] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  9. [11] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  10. [12] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  11. [13] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  12. [14] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  13. [15] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  14. [16] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  15. [17] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  16. [18] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  17. [19] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  18. [20] ↑ . libpng.org. Retrieved . libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  19. [21] ↑ . w3.org. w3.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] ↑ . libpng.org. Retrieved . libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  26. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [29] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  28. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [37] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  36. [38] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  38. [40] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  39. [41] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  40. [42] ↑ . libpng.org. libpng.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  41. [43] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  42. [44] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  43. [45] ↑ . Gary Kessler's File Signature Table. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  44. [46] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  45. [47] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [48] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [49] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Portable Network Graphics. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/png
MLA “Portable Network Graphics.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 13 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/png.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_png_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Portable Network Graphics}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/png}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-13}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Portable Network Graphics — https://4ort.xyz/entity/png (retrieved 2026-10-13)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 21w ago · TiagoLubiana · 2026-05-15 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Replaces → —
    Standards body → World Wide Web Consortium
    Official website → http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/, http://png-mng.sourceforge.net/pub/png/
    Based on → DEFLATE
    + 16 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ Edam ontology id: format_3603, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/289761649|PNG (#289761649)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/7899|EDAM Ontology]] #mix'n'"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.