# PNG Graphics

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/png-graphics/37550>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 19, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/png-graphics/37550 "2000-10-19T16:47:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/png-graphics/37550/1 "2000-10-19T16:47:13Z")

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Almost all web graphics are GIF (think of them as spot-colors) or JPG files (compressed photographic files). Recently I got a new version of a graphics program that support PNG (portable network graphics) files. I’ve yet to see them used.

For the cognoscenti:

- where have they started to appear?
- where do they have advantages of GIFs, JPGs?

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**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/png-graphics/37550/2 "2000-10-19T17:20:24Z")

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I’m surprized.

Anyway, they are basically a way to get around the LZW compression patent in gif’s (yes, I know, they are a lot more than that).  
So far, not that popular due to browser support limitations.

Here’s a link that may inform you more.  
[http://www.w3.org/Graphics/PNG/](http://www.w3.org/Graphics/PNG/)

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/png-graphics/37550/3 "2000-10-19T19:36:37Z")

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[http://burnallgifs.org/](http://burnallgifs.org/)