Free webp to jpg
EN
Image MIME Reference
APNG

Animated Portable Network Graphics

image/vnd.mozilla.apng
VS

Adobe Digital Negative

image/x-adobe-dng
DNG

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

APNG wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature APNG DNG
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading Yes ✕ No
HDR Support ✕ No Yes
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
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 →
Adobe Digital Negative
image/x-adobe-dng
Extension
.dng
Container TIFF/EP
Compression Lossless JPEG / Deflate / Lossy JPEG (DNG 1.4+)
Algorithm
Lossless JPEG (Standard)Lossy JPEG (Compression option)Uncompressed
Color Depth 12-bit, 14-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit (Floating Point HDR)
Developed by Adobe Systems
Released 2004
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00 or 4D 4D 00 2A
Full DNG reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser APNG DNG
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)
DNG

DNG Strengths

  • Openly documented specification guarantees long-term archival accessibility, freeing photographers from proprietary manufacturer lock-in
  • Lossless compression algorithms often result in files 15-20% smaller than uncompressed proprietary raw formats
  • Natively supported by modern smartphone operating systems (iOS and Android) for high-end mobile photography
Limitations
  • Conversion from proprietary raw to DNG takes processing time and can strip specific, proprietary manufacturer metadata (like active D-Lighting or in-camera lens corrections)
  • File sizes are massive compared to standard JPEGs or HEIC files
  • Cannot be rendered natively in web browsers without server-side processing or WebAssembly decoders

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
DNG
Use DNG when…
  • Digital Photography Archival
  • Mobile Raw Capture (iOS ProRAW / Android Camera2 API)
  • Cross-Platform Raw Editing Workflows

More comparisons

APNG vs ACES → DNG vs ACES → APNG vs AVCI → DNG vs AVCI → APNG vs AVCS → DNG vs AVCS → APNG vs AVIF → DNG vs AVIF → All comparisons →
Share this comparison