Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
APNG

Animated Portable Network Graphics

image/vnd.mozilla.apng
VS

DVB Subtitle

image/vnd.dvb.subtitle
DVB-SUB

A complete technical comparison of Animated Portable Network Graphics and DVB Subtitle — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

APNG wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature APNG DVB-SUB
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading Yes ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
Animated Portable Network Graphics
image/vnd.mozilla.apng
Extension
.apng.png
Container PNG Chunk Stream
Compression Deflate (Lossless)
Algorithm
Deflate (zlib)
Color Depth 8-bit (Indexed), 24-bit (TrueColor), 32-bit (RGBA)
Developed by Mozilla Corporation (Stuart Parmenter & Vladimir Vukićević)
Released 2004
Magic Bytes
89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A
Full APNG reference →
DVB Subtitle
image/vnd.dvb.subtitle
Extension
.sub.sup.ts
Container MPEG-2 Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) PES Packets
Compression Lossless (Run-Length Encoding)
Algorithm
RLE (Run-Length Encoding)
Color Depth 2-bit (Indexed), 4-bit (Indexed), 8-bit (Indexed CLUT)
Developed by DVB Project (ETSI)
Released 1997
Magic Bytes
20
Full DVB-SUB reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser APNG DVB-SUB
Chrome Chrome
✓ 59
 ✕
Firefox Firefox
✓ 3
 ✕
Safari Safari
✓ 8
 ✕
Edge Edge
✓ 79
 ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
APNG

APNG Strengths

  • Supports 8-bit alpha transparency, completely solving the ugly 'white halo' problem inherent to GIFs
  • Gracefully degrades; viewers that do not support APNG will render a perfectly valid, static PNG of the first frame
  • Provides lossless compression that retains absolute pixel-perfect quality for UI elements and line art
Limitations
  • Because it relies on lossless Deflate compression, file sizes for complex, video-like animations can be massive compared to lossy formats like WebP or AVIF
  • Was initially rejected by the official PNG group, delaying its adoption for nearly a decade
  • Lacks native hardware decoding acceleration, unlike video-based animated formats (like MP4 or WebM)
DVB-SUB

DVB-SUB Strengths

  • Guarantees 100% accurate visual representation (fonts, colors, layouts) exactly as intended by the broadcaster
  • Effortlessly supports complex character sets (e.g., Arabic, Asian languages) without relying on the client device possessing the necessary fonts
  • Supports region-specific dynamic positioning to avoid obscuring important on-screen graphics or burned-in lower thirds
Limitations
  • Requires significantly more bandwidth than text-based subtitles
  • Inaccessible to screen readers and cannot be indexed by search engines
  • Requires OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to translate back into standard text-based web formats
  • Zero native support in HTML5 video elements

When to choose which format

APNG
Use APNG when…
  • High-Quality Web Animations
  • Stickers (Apple iMessage, LINE, Discord)
  • UI Loaders with Alpha Transparency
  • GIF Replacement
DVB-SUB
Use DVB-SUB when…
  • Digital Television Broadcasts (DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C)
  • IPTV and OTT Streaming
  • Hardware Set-top Boxes

More comparisons

APNG vs ACES → DVB-SUB vs ACES → APNG vs AVCI → DVB-SUB vs AVCI → APNG vs AVCS → DVB-SUB vs AVCS → APNG vs AVIF → DVB-SUB vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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