RFC 2083 · HISTORIC · 1997

PNG Specification Version 1.0

Overview

RFC 2083, “PNG Specification Version 1.0”, is a Historic document published in March 1997 by T. Boutell. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

This document describes PNG (Portable Network Graphics), an extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-color, grayscale, and truecolor images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits.

PNG is designed to work well in online viewing applications, such as the World Wide Web, so it is fully streamable with a progressive display option. PNG is robust, providing both full file integrity checking and simple detection of common transmission errors. Also, PNG can store gamma and chromaticity data for improved color matching on heterogeneous platforms.

This specification defines the Internet Media Type image/png.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Historic” means

A specification that has been superseded or is otherwise no longer recommended for use.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 2083 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

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