Image format
The APNG format
APNG is a PNG that animates, with full color and soft transparency. Mozilla proposed APNG in 2004 and shipped it in Firefox 3 in 2008; Chrome added support in 2017 and it joined the official PNG specification in 2025.
When to use APNG
Use APNG for small animated graphics on the web where GIF’s color banding or jagged edges would show.
It is best for animations that need more than GIF’s 256 colors or smooth transparent edges, and it opens on every current browser and Telegram stickers; most image editors show only the first frame.
How to open it: Open it in any current browser to see it animate; ordinary viewers show the first frame as a still.
| Full name | Animated PNG |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .apng |
| MIME type | image/apng |
| Introduced | 2008 |
| Compression | Lossless |
| Transparency | Yes |
| Animation | Yes |
| Support | Current browsers and apps |
| Typical size | Larger than a GIF of the same animation, but in full color |
Good at
- Millions of colors instead of 256
- Soft, anti-aliased transparency
- Falls back to a still PNG in old software
Not so good at
- Files are often larger than GIF or animated WebP
- Editors and chat apps rarely animate it
The common mistake
An APNG usually still ends in .png, so an upload form or editor treats it as a still picture and the animation silently disappears.
Convert APNG to another image format
Questions
What is an APNG file?
APNG (Animated PNG) is a PNG that animates, with full color and soft transparency. Mozilla proposed APNG in 2004 and shipped it in Firefox 3 in 2008; Chrome added support in 2017 and it joined the official PNG specification in 2025.
How do I open an APNG file?
Open it in any current browser to see it animate; ordinary viewers show the first frame as a still.
How do I convert APNG to another format?
Pick the target on this page, or open the Image Converter, drop the APNG file and choose a format. It converts in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.