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Format

Animated Portable Network Graphics

Summary

Name
Animated Portable Network Graphics
Identifiers
  • PUID: fmt/935
  • MIME: image/apng
  • Library of Congress Format Description Identifier: fdd000649
  • Wikidata QID Identifier: Q433224
Format type
Image (Raster)
Description
APNG is an extension of the PNG format, adding support for animated images. It is intended to be a replacement for simple animated images that have traditionally used the GIF format, while adding support for 24-bit images and 8-bit transparency. APNG is intended as a simpler alternative to MNG. APNG is backwards-compatible with PNG; any PNG decoder should be able to ignore the APNG-specific chunks and display a single image.
File extensions
png, apng
Source
Digital Preservation Department / The National Archives

Relationships

Has priority over

Internal signatures

APNG

Note
Signature + IHDR and acTL chunks at BOF, IEND chunk at EOF Specification: https://wiki.mozilla.org/APNG_Specification

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
89504E470D0A1A0A0000000D49484452*6163544C
Endianness
None
Min Frag Length
Absolute from EOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
0000000049454E44AE426082
Endianness
None
Min Frag Length
Variable
Offset
None
Max offset
None
Byte Sequence
6663544C00000000
Endianness
None

Changelog

  • Updated in V122

    Release date
    19 January 2026

    Animated Portable Network Graphics: MIME type corrected, LOC and wikidata identifiers added. Signature updated to add a variable sequence of bytes to prevent clashing. Submitted by Library of Congress and Preservica.

  • Added in V86

    Release date
    27 July 2016

    Animated Portable Network Graphics: Signature developed through PRONOM Research.

    Animated Portable Network Graphics: Full entry added.