New PNG Specification Unveiled: Embracing HDR Colors and Enhanced Animation Support

The members of the PNG working group have *introduced* a new specification for the format after more than twenty years.

This update *implements* support for colors typical of high dynamic range (HDR) images, utilizing just 4 bytes.

Additionally, the specification integrates APNG animation recognition, which was previously added in Firefox.

Lastly, the specification includes support for Exif data, which stores extra information, including copyright details and even the location of the camera lens and GPS coordinates of the photograph.

Representatives from Adobe, Apple, BBC, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Google, MovieLabs, and W3C participated in creating this PNG specification, which they support.

As the group members highlight, work has already commenced on the next two updates for the PNG specification. They are particularly focused on improvements in compression, parallel encoding/decoding, and more.

The upcoming PNG specification update is expected to be minor, enhancing the interaction between HDR and standard dynamic range (SDR).