What is a .png file?

About the format

A .png is a losslessly compressed image — every pixel preserved exactly — with full transparency support, which makes it the right format for screenshots, UI graphics, diagrams, logos and anything containing text or sharp edges (the cases where JPEG's lossy compression smears). The trade-off is size on photographs: a photo saved as PNG can be several times larger than a visually identical JPEG, which is why cameras don't use it. Windows' own screenshot tools (Snipping Tool, Win+Shift+S) produce PNGs, and every browser, viewer and editor on every platform opens them; it is about as universally supported as a format gets. PNG also supports animation (APNG) though GIF and video formats still dominate that niche. One privacy note in PNG's favour: unlike JPEG photos, PNGs typically carry no EXIF camera/GPS metadata — though a screenshot's CONTENT is its own privacy story, and the number of tokens, emails and internal URLs accidentally shared in screenshots dwarfs any metadata concern.

How to open a .png file

Is a .png file dangerous?

No, for practical purposes. Check what the screenshot shows before sharing it.

Related file types