Web Animation: APNG

APGN the acronym for Animated Portable Network Graphic is an extension to the PNG file specification which allows for 8bit and 24bit PNG animation while maintaining backwards compatibility with non apng capable web browsers and file viewers, so any program capable of viewing png files should display at least the first frame of an apng.

If you’re using the latest versions of Firefox or Opera web browser, you should see two animated images at the top of this post, and its easy to see the difference in quality between the smooth apng and the jagged edged gif, but as the case with bitmap images there’s is a trade off in better image quality for larger file size.

The following is a list of APNG capable software:

Web Browsers

• Firefox 3
• Opera 9.6

Creation and Viewing

• APNG Assembler (Web Utility)
• GIF Movie Gear 4.2 (Desktop Utility)
• APNG edit (Firefox Add-on)
• XnView (Image Viewer)

For more information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APNG

http://animatedpng.com/index.php/about/

http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/08/better-animations-in-firefox-3/
https://wiki.mozilla.org/APNG_Specification (Technical Specification)

Related posts:

1. Firefox Add-ons for Design & Development
2. Microformats
3. Mobile Browser Emulators
4. Tag Add-ons for Firefox
5. SEO : Search Engine Optimization