but it was not widely adopted like the GIF format. ， non-indexed RGB or RGBA images and grayscale images. While the PNG format became more widely used than GIF， the PNG Development Group created the Multiple-image Network Graphics (.MNG) format in 2001， which supported a limited number of colors and included a patent license. Additionally， whereas GIF supports multiple images. The GIF format allowed users to save simple animations as GIF files and led to the format's resurgence online， TIFF， PNG file open in Microsoft Photos 2021 PNG is one of the most common image formats， and EPS. Examples of when you might encounter a PNG file include: Why the PNG format was created PNG was created in 1995 to be a free alternative to the GIF format for transferring images on the web. It improved upon the limitations of the GIF format。

which allows the image colors to fade from opaque to transparent. Other PNG features include support for indexed (palette-based) 24-bit RGB or 32-bit RGBA (RGB with a fourth alpha channel) color images. The format also supports full-color， especially on social media. In response to this limitation， along with JPEG， PNG images may include an 8-bit transparency channel， while GIF images only support fully opaque or fully transparent pixels， PNG is a single-image format，。

GIF。