How do I open a .png file?

On Windows use Photos (built in); on macOS use Preview (built in); on Linux use Image Viewer / Loupe (built in). Lossless image format with transparency, made for screenshots, logos and web graphics.

Can I convert a .png file?

Yes. It is usually converted to .jpg, .webp, .svg, .pdf or .ico, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.

.png files

.png file

Portable Network Graphics

Lossless image format with transparency, made for screenshots, logos and web graphics.

What opens a .png file

Windows: Photos (built in), Paint (built in), IrfanView, Adobe Photoshop
macOS: Preview (built in), Photos (built in), GIMP
Linux: Image Viewer / Loupe (built in), GIMP, Krita
In a browser: Any web browser

What a .png file is

PNG was designed in 1996 as a patent-free replacement for GIF and became an official ISO standard. It compresses without losing any detail and supports a full alpha channel, which is why screenshots, logos and UI graphics use it. The trade-off is size: a photograph saved as PNG is typically several times larger than the same photo as JPEG.

Converting it

A .png file is commonly converted to .jpg, .webp, .svg, .pdf or .ico. It is a binary format, so a text editor will show unreadable characters rather than its contents.

Details

Extension: .png
Full name: Portable Network Graphics
Category: Images
MIME type: image/png
Created by: PNG Development Group / W3C
Format: Binary

Common questions

How do I open a .png file?: On Windows use Photos (built in); on macOS use Preview (built in); on Linux use Image Viewer / Loupe (built in). Lossless image format with transparency, made for screenshots, logos and web graphics.
What is a .png file?: Portable Network Graphics. PNG was designed in 1996 as a patent-free replacement for GIF and became an official ISO standard. It compresses without losing any detail and supports a full alpha channel, which is why screenshots, logos and UI graphics use it.
Can I convert a .png file?: Yes. It is usually converted to .jpg, .webp, .svg, .pdf or .ico, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.

.jpg — JPEG Image The lossy photo format that every camera, phone and website has used since the 1
.jpeg — JPEG Image (four-letter form) The same format as .jpg — the longer spelling, kept alive by Macs and Unix syste
.heic — High Efficiency Image Container The format an iPhone saves photos in — about half the size of a JPEG at the same
.webp — WebP Image Google's web image format — smaller than JPEG or PNG, and now supported everywhe
.gif — Graphics Interchange Format The 256-colour animation format from 1987 that refuses to die.
.psd — Adobe Photoshop Document Photoshop's working file, keeping layers, masks and text editable.
.svg — Scalable Vector Graphics An XML text format describing shapes rather than pixels, so it stays sharp at an
.ai — Adobe Illustrator Artwork Illustrator's vector working file, used for logos, icons and print artwork.
.avif — AV1 Image File Format A royalty-free image format built on the AV1 video codec, smaller than JPEG or W
.tiff — Tagged Image File Format The lossless, multi-page image format used in printing, scanning and archiving.
.raw — Camera Raw Image Unprocessed sensor data from a camera — and, confusingly, a literal extension us
.ico — Windows Icon A container holding one icon at several sizes, used by Windows and by website fa

Sources

Media Types Registry — IANA
Official vendor product documentation — At One Place

How these figures are compiled and checked