| Multiple-image Network Graphics | |
|---|---|
| Filename extension | .mng |
| Internet media type | video/x-mng (unofficial) |
| Developed by | PNG Development Group (donated toW3C) |
| Type of format | computer animation |
| Container for | PNG,JNG |
| Extended from | PNG |
Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG) is agraphics file format published in 2001 foranimated images. Its specification is publicly documented and there arefree software reference implementations available.
MNG is closely related to thePNG image format. When PNG development started in early 1995, developers decided not to incorporate support foranimation, because the majority of the PNG developers felt that overloading a single file type with both still and animation features is a bad design, both for users (who have no simple way of determining to which class a given image file belongs) and for web servers (which should use a MIME type starting withimage/ for stills andvideo/ for animations—GIF notwithstanding),[1] but work soon started on MNG as an animation-supporting version of PNG. Version 1.0 of the MNG specification was released on 31 January 2001.
Gwenview has native MNG support.GIMP can export images as MNG files.Imagemagick can create a MNG file from a series of PNG files. With the MNG plugin,Irfanview can read a MNG file.[2] IfMPlayer is linked against libmng, it and all its graphical front-ends likeGnome MPlayer can display MNG files.
Mozilla browsers andNetscape 6.0, 6.01 and 7.0 included native support for MNG until the code was removed in 2003 due to code size and little actual usage,[3] causing complaints on the Mozilla development site.[4] Mozilla later added support forAPNG as a simpler alternative.[5] Similarly, early versions of theKonqueror browser included MNG support but it was later dropped. MNG support was never included inGoogle Chrome,Internet Explorer,Opera, orSafari.
| Product | Support status | |
|---|---|---|
| Image processing | ||
| Chasys Draw IES | Yes | |
| GIMP | Partial | |
| Gwenview | Yes | |
| ImageMagick | Yes | |
| Irfanview | Partial, via plugin | |
| KMPlayer | Yes | |
| Konvertor | Yes | |
| MPlayer | Yes | |
| XnView | Yes | |
Web servers are generally not pre-configured to support MNG files.[6][7]
The MNG developers had hoped that MNG would replace GIF for animated images on theWorld Wide Web, just as PNG had done for still images.[8] However, with the expiration of LZW patents and existence of other alternative file formats such as APNG, Flash, andSVG, web usage of MNG was far less than its developers had expected.
The structure of MNG files is essentially the same as that of PNG files, differing only in the slightly different signature (8A 4D 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A inhexadecimal, where4D 4E 47 is ASCII for "MNG" – seePortable Network Graphics: File header) and the use of a much greater variety ofchunks to support all the animation features that it provides. Images to be used in the animation are stored in the MNG file as encapsulated PNG orJNG images.
To allow applications to include some level of MNG support without having to implement the entire MNG specification, two reduced-complexity versions of MNG are also defined: MNG-LC (low complexity) and MNG-VLC (very low complexity). These reduced specifications are conceptually similar to the "SVG Basic" and "SVG Tiny" subsets offered in theSVG standard.
MNG does not have a registeredMIME media type, butvideo/x-mng orimage/x-mng can be used.MNG animations may be included inHTML pages using the<embed> or<object> tag.
Saving a file as MNG can be either lossy or lossless, depending on whether its frames are encoded in PNG (lossless) orJNG (lossy).
Most modern web browsers support animations inAPNG,SVG,WebP, andWebM. As of February 2024[update] onlyApple Safari supportsHEIF andJPEG XL.[9]Internet Explorer only supported GIF, CSS, and Flash animations.
The most common alternatives to MNG have beenAnimated GIF and – until it was deprecated in 2017[10] –Adobe Flash. GIF images are restricted to 256 colors with limited compression, but the format is supported in all graphical web browsers and is still widely used.
Animations can also be generated ad hoc in a browser with theCSS 3 featuresanimations, transitions, andsprites, or with theweb animations API of JavaScript, by specifying frames or motions of still images or rendered shapes. Ad-hoc animations can be resource-intensive, and they generally cannot be saved in a portable file or posted onimageboards.
| Raster | |
|---|---|
| Raw | |
| Vector | |
| Compound | |
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