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A new PNG spec

(www.programmax.net)
615 points bluedel | 24 comments | 24 Jun 25 13:01 UTC | HN request time: 1.417s | source | bottom
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poisonborz ◴[25 Jun 25 10:11 UTC] No.44375523[source]▶
Not backwards compatible. We just add it to that nice cupboard "great advanced image formats we will forget about".

Society doesn't need a new image format. I'd wager to say not any new multimedia format. Big corporate entites do, and have churning them out at a steady pace.

Look at poor webp - a format pushed by the largest industry players - and the abysmal everyday use it gets, and the hate it generates.

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michaelmior ◴[25 Jun 25 10:13 UTC] No.44375537[source]▶
> and the abysmal everyday use it gets

Estimates are that 95% of Internet users have a browser that supports WebP and that ~25% of the top million websites serve WebP images. I wouldn't call that abysmal.

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1. Geezus_42 ◴[25 Jun 25 10:48 UTC] No.44375752[source]▶
Great, so I can download it, but then I have to convert it to a different format before half my apps will be able to use it.
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2. wltr ◴[25 Jun 25 11:27 UTC] No.44376017[source]▶
Maybe the issue is with your operating system then?
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3. jdiff ◴[25 Jun 25 11:37 UTC] No.44376098[source]▶
App support has very little to do with the operating system. OSes by and large will preview it just fine.
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4. dinkblam ◴[25 Jun 25 12:03 UTC] No.44376294{3}[source]▶
on the contrary. on macOS apps don't have to support image (or movie) formats. it is done by the system and transparently handled by the APIs. apps automatically gain new formats when the system adds it.
replies(1): >>44376343 #
5. reaperducer ◴[25 Jun 25 12:08 UTC] No.44376343{4}[source]▶
The unfortunate side effect of this convenience is that apps automatically lose image support when macOS chases to no longer support them, too.

One example is Sony's SRF camera raw format.

Programs like Photoshop and Affinity have to bring their own decoders where previously none were required.

replies(1): >>44376470 #
6. dspillett ◴[25 Jun 25 12:23 UTC] No.44376470{5}[source]▶
And having to bring in support for formats that are deprecated by the OS, if they decide to keep supporting that format as there is sufficient demand from their users, is worse than having to bring in support for all formats rather than getting support from the OS?

Having ask that in a slightly confrontational way, one of the reasons I started using VLC all those years ago, and still use it to this day, was having trouble with other media players that relied on OS support fail to work well (or at all) with some codecs, while VLC brought support for them, and their dog, built-in and reliable. Dragging your own format support libraries with you can be beneficial.

7. echelon ◴[25 Jun 25 12:33 UTC] No.44376559[source]▶
You can't use webp on Reddit, Instagram, and hundreds of other websites. Which is ironic because some of them serve images as webp.
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8. wltr ◴[25 Jun 25 12:46 UTC] No.44376683{3}[source]▶
I meant Windows, as macOS and Linux are usually good with modern things. It’s trivial to add the support if you don’t have it. I have no idea about Windows, but I got this vibe of someone using Win7 in 2025 and complaining the world moved on and keeps moving on.
9. wltr ◴[25 Jun 25 12:49 UTC] No.44376703{3}[source]▶
That doesn’t mean it’s dead, it rather shows sheer incompetence of the web dev departments of these wonderful companies for whom webp or avif aren’t images, I guess.
replies(1): >>44376780 #
10. BeFlatXIII ◴[25 Jun 25 12:50 UTC] No.44376715[source]▶
Or convert before you upload because the image host has delusions about fighting the Google monoculture by refusing WebP support. Even more of a head scratcher when WebM is their only video format.
11. PaulHoule ◴[25 Jun 25 12:56 UTC] No.44376771[source]▶
Blame Adobe. For what they charge for Creative Suite it ought to have supported it a long time ago.

My webcrawler sucks down a lot of WebP images, at least it did before it got the smackdown from Cloudflare.

replies(1): >>44376823 #
12. PaulHoule ◴[25 Jun 25 12:57 UTC] No.44376780{4}[source]▶
Instagram's image uploading interface is klunky compared to Mastodon which is entirely unfunded.
replies(1): >>44376885 #
13. socalgal2 ◴[25 Jun 25 12:57 UTC] No.44376783{3}[source]▶
Just tested reddit. It works fine with .webp I don't have an instagram account
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14. martin_a ◴[25 Jun 25 13:01 UTC] No.44376823[source]▶
Adobe Photoshop has support for WebP (through "Save as", not "Export") but I don't think WebP is important.
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15. ◴[25 Jun 25 13:06 UTC] No.44376869{3}[source]▶
16. echelon ◴[25 Jun 25 13:07 UTC] No.44376871{4}[source]▶
Try https://www.reddit.com/settings/profile

There are so many uneven areas of Reddit where WebP doesn't work. Old reddit, profile support, mod tools, etc.

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17. echelon ◴[25 Jun 25 13:08 UTC] No.44376885{5}[source]▶
This shows the unfortunate power of distribution.

It doesn't matter if the alternative is technically superior once the majority use the mainstream thing.

18. whywhywhywhy ◴[25 Jun 25 13:08 UTC] No.44376895{3}[source]▶
But it can’t open them
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19. martin_a ◴[25 Jun 25 13:11 UTC] No.44376925{4}[source]▶
Not sure if that's version specific, but my one can (version 26.7.0) without any issues or warnings. Tried with this sample file: https://www.gstatic.com/webp/gallery/1.webp
20. williamscales ◴[25 Jun 25 13:20 UTC] No.44377023{4}[source]▶
Looks Photoshop has since v23.2 in 2022.
21. lizknope ◴[25 Jun 25 13:51 UTC] No.44377354[source]▶
I was about to write that Slack doesn't support webp but I just tested it and it does. For years I have been typing "convert file.webp file.jpg" and then posting that in slack but it looks like they have added support.
22. kccqzy ◴[25 Jun 25 14:49 UTC] No.44377994{5}[source]▶
I'm convinced that this is because of the prevalent MVP culture in modern software engineering. Instead of holistically looking at a new feature request such as "support webp images" we break it down into parts (e.g. "serve webp" "accept webp upload here" "accept webp upload there") and then we call it a MVP when only the highest priority items are done.
23. jeroenhd ◴[25 Jun 25 14:58 UTC] No.44378114[source]▶
Everything I've tried supports WebPs. It took Adobe a while but even Photoshop supports the format these days.

Hell, for some software features (like stickers in some chat apps), WebP is mandatory.

HEIFF files, on the other hand...

24. asadotzler ◴[25 Jun 25 17:45 UTC] No.44379966{4}[source]▶
My PS can open them. Maybe update?