iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite Gain Support for Animated PNG Images

[PhilSynowiec]

Let's face it, we all love sending animated GIF images to our friends and family, it's a great way to send a relative or witty response. One thing that has always been problem for GIFs is that the images are so compressed that the entire thing loses quality.

Originally proposed in 2004, Animated PNGs (APNG) were supposed to take over, providing higher quality animations, in exchange for large file sizes. However, in 2007, the PNG group completely reject to format and it never gained the popularity GIFs have now.

The Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) file format is a non-standard extension to the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) specification. It allows for animated PNG files that work similarly to animated GIF files, while supporting 24-bit images and 8-bit transparency not available for GIFs. It also retains backward compatibility with non-animated PNG files.

Before now, FireFox was one of the only major browsers to support the APNG format. We learned today from MacRumors that the iOS 8 update supports APNG in Safari. The post was later updated stating that OS X Yosemite also supports the file format.

Looking for an example of an APNG? View the beach ball above on Yosemite or iOS 8 and it should be bouncing.