An acronym for Portable Network Graphics.

PNG (pronounced ping as in ping-pong) is a file format for image compression that, in time, is expected to replace the Graphics Interchange Format GIF that is widely used on today's Internet.

The PNG format was developed by an Internet committee expressly to be patent-free. It provides a number of improvements over the GIF format.

Like a GIF, a PNG file is compressed in "lossless" fashion (meaning all image information is restored when the file is decompressed during viewing).

A PNG file is not intended to replace the JPEG format, which is "lossy" (compression technique in which data is lost) but lets the creator make a trade-off between file size and image quality when the image is compressed.

Typically, an image in a PNG file can be 10% to 30% more compressed than in a GIF format.