WWW and Online Browsers with PNG Support

The Web, of course, was one of the main targets for PNG support since progressive display is so important to those browsing over a low-speed link (like Greg). GIF's interlacing scheme isn't very good, and JPEG's progressive mode is still catching on; PNG's seven-pass, two-dimensional scheme was designed to fill this gap. Likewise, PNG's alpha-channel support (including ``RGBA palettes'') and support for automatic gamma correction are particularly useful on the Web. This page lists standard 2D browsers; see the appropriate pages for listings of VRML browsers and other 3D applications.

As with the other applications pages, links to home WWW sites or to downloadable versions are provided where known, but if a link is broken, check the location and see if an updated version is available (and please tell Greg!). Relevant operating systems are printed in (parenthesized italics).

These are listed alphabetically, more or less:

• AIR Mosaic - see SPRYNET Mosaic below

• Amaya [W3C] (Unix/X, Windows 9x/NT) - all versions; read-only; binary transparency (colormapped images only); no support for full alpha channels; partially broken gamma support; good OBJECT support; reportedly poor dithering in 8-bit modes. (This is the W3C's testbed web client for new HTML, CSS and XML features. It has both browsing and authoring [HTML-editing] capabilities, and it can create client-side image maps on inline PNGs.)

• AMosaic [AMosaic development team] (Amiga) - any version via a PNG DataType (see the miscellaneous apps page for a couple); read-only; requires MUI

• ANT Fresco [ANT] (Acorn) - all versions; read-only. (This is the browser chosen for Oracle's Network Computer.)

• ArcWeb [Stewart Brodie] (Acorn) - version 1.70 and later; read-only

• Arena [W3C, Yggdrasil et al.] (Unix/X) - version 0.98b and later; read-only; full gamma and alpha support; full 16/48-bit PNG image support; progressive display of pages but not of individual images. (As of beta-3b, W3C development stopped in favor of Amaya, above; an Internet-based development team hosted at Yggdrasil's site took over. But that effort appears to have died, too, as of March 1998; a final, minimally changed version 0.3.62 was released in November 1998. PNG support is [partly?] broken in version 0.3.07 and later, but beta-3b is still available.)

• Ariadna [AMSD] (Windows 9x/NT) - version 1.2 and later; read-only. (NT/Alpha and Russian versions also available.)

• AWeb [Yvon Rozijn] (Amiga) - any version via a PNG DataType (see the miscellaneous apps page for a couple), but better and faster support via the AWebPNG plug-in (progressive display, gamma correction, transparency and 24-bit support; 40k; included with AWeb 3.2 and later); read-only; does not require MUI. Note that the AWebPNG plug-in was the third most popular Amiga download during March 1998--outstanding! (Click here if link breaks.)

• Browse [Acorn] (Acorn) - all versions; read-only; full alpha support in version 1.25 and later (including RGBA backgrounds, blended with BGCOLOR); full gamma support; progressive display of interlaced images

• Chimera [John Kilburg] (Unix/X) - any version? via external decoders (but images appear inlined); read-only; progressive display in 2.0 and later. (See Roman Czyborra's sample configuration for an example of how to set this up, especially the convert and mailcap files.)

• Communicator - see Netscape Navigator below

• Enhanced Mosaic - see Spyglass Mosaic below

• GNU E-Scape [Joel ``nemo'' Weber II] (Unix/X) - version 1.0 and later; read-only (coming)

• Grail [Corporation for National Research Initiatives] (Unix/X) - version 0.3b3 and later via the Python Imaging Library (PIL); read-only. (0.3b2 supports PNG via a simple patch from Andre Derrick Balsa. Mac and Windows ports coming after the corresponding Tk ports are done.)

• iBrowse [HiSOFT Systems] (Amiga) - version 1.2 and later natively, or any previous version via a PNG DataType (see the miscellaneous apps page for a couple); read-only; requires MUI 3.8 or later; full alpha support? progressive display

• iCab [Alexander Clauss / iCab] (Mac 68k/PPC) - all versions? read-only; reportedly full alpha support; no gamma support; no progressive display

• Internet Explorer [Microsoft] (Windows 3.x, Windows 9x/NT, Solaris/X, HP-UX/X) - version 4.0b1 and later; read-only; broken alpha support in 4.0b2 through 5.0 (simple transparency only, with bad threshold for full transparency, and only for palette images; non-palette images are rendered fully opaque against a gray background); full gamma support in 4.0b2 and later; progressive display of interlaced images in 4.0 and later (replicating method); broken OBJECT support (only if "Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins" security preference enabled; adds unnecessary scrollbars; renders all OBJECTs in nested set, not just outermost). Note that Microsoft claims MSIE 4.0 ``does not include the functionality to view .png files,'' which presumably refers to its inability to display a stand-alone PNG (i.e., one that is simply referenced via a link or opened from disk--it can view one that is inlined on an HTML page via an IMG tag just fine); this is fixed in 5.0. Note also that the Macintosh version (including 4.5) has no PNG support at all.

• MindWalker - see Voyager below

• mMosaic [Dauphin Gilles / NCSA X Mosaic Team] (Unix/X) - all versions; read-only; uses libpng and zlib; PNG dithering is poor (libpng problem); no progressive display; no alpha support; no simple transparency support; no gamma support; fails on 13 valid PNGs on PngSuite page. (This is an enhanced version of NCSA X Mosaic 2.7b4, extended by Gilles to support tables; Java applets [via the free Java virtual machine Kaffe]; and the free Motif clone, Lesstif.)

• Mosaic 95 - see SPRYNET Mosaic below

• NCSA MacMosaic [NCSA MacMosaic Team] (Macintosh) - version 3.0A1 and later; read-only; gamma support in version 3.0B3 and later; optional progressive display of interlaced images (either sparse or replicating method, or none at all); alpha support slightly buggy

• NCSA X Mosaic [NCSA X Mosaic Team] (Unix/X) - version 2.7b1 and later; read-only; PNG dithering is poor (libpng problem); no progressive display; no alpha support; no simple transparency support; no gamma support

• NetPositive [Be] (BeOS) - version 3.0 and later (uses new PNG Translator in BeOS R4.1); read-only; full alpha support? full gamma support? (coming)

• Netscape Navigator [Netscape Communications] (Unix/X, Windows 9x/NT, Macintosh, OS/2) - version 4.04 and later; progressive display (replicating method); no alpha support; no simple transparency support in public releases (but binary transparency in Mozilla developer/source release); no gamma support in public releases; treats black as transparent in opaque palette images with background chunk (test); limits image size to dimensions of around 6000 pixels or so; attempts to display invalid PNGs; versions 4.04 through 4.5 have a bug in their ``Accept'' headers (missing comma) that causes Microsoft web servers not to send PNG images (fixed in 4.51); uses libpng and zlib. (Version 2.0 and later also support PNG via the plug-ins listed below, but note that Netscape plug-ins currently do not support true inlined images--they only support images inlined with Netscape's non-standard EMBED tag, which is not usable by most other browsers, or with HTML 4.0's OBJECT tag, as long as HEIGHT and WIDTH attributes are included in the tag. In any case, Netscape's OBJECT support is broken, too.)

  • PNG plug-in [Giorgio Costa] (OS/2) - all versions; read-only; no transparency support; progressive display (replicating method); uses libpng and zlib; 369k (beta only)

  • QuickTime PNG plug-in [Apple] (Windows 9x/NT, Macintosh) - version 3.0 and later; read-only; full gamma support? no transparency support; no progressive display. (The plug-in actually handles several media types. It also installs itself into every browser on the machine, including Internet Explorer; to remove, find the appropriate Plugins directory or directories and delete npqtplugin.dll .)

  • PNG Live plug-in [Siegel & Gale] (Windows 9x/NT) - all versions; read-only; broken gamma support; alpha support in 2.0b1 and later (but broken: uses PNG background chunk instead of browser background); progressive display in 2.0b5 and later (replicating method); uses libpng and zlib. (Development on this product appears to have ceased as of June 1997, and the web site was shut down in early 1999--which is unfortunate since its alpha support was better than any other Netscape-compatible solution to date [as of April 1999]. Version 1.0 also worked with Internet Explorer 3.0 and supported PowerMacs as well as Win32. Version 2.0b5 was the final public release; the rumored PowerMac and Irix ports were never completed.)

  • KeyView Pro [FTP Software / Verity] (Windows 3.x, Windows 9x/NT) - version 4.2 and later; read/write. [FTP Software sold KeyView to Verity in late 1997.]

  • Quick View Plus [Inso or Jasc, depending] (Windows 3.x, Windows 9x/NT, Unix) - version 4.5 and later; read-only; uses zlib. (This is apparently the Nth-generation descendant of Mastersoft's Viewer 95. Mastersoft was acquired by Frame, which was acquired by Adobe, which renamed the viewer to Adobe File Utilities by Mastersoft before selling it to Inso in 1997, which renamed it to Quick View Plus and apparently sold part of it to Jasc in 1998. The Inso version includes a Netscape plug-in, the Unix port [Solaris, HP-UX and AIX only; requires Motif] and is intended for ``enterprise'' or government customers of 1000 seats or more; the Jasc version is intended for end-users and SOHO customers and may or may not still include the plug-in. It is not clear what happened to the Macintosh version or whether either Inso's or Jasc's version retains the ability to convert formats.)

  • PNG plug-in [Sam Bushell] (Macintosh) - all versions; read-only; progressive display; uses libpng and zlib (beta only; superseded by QuickTime PNG plug-in above)

  • pngplug [Silicon Graphics] (SGI Irix/X) - all versions; read-only; also supports RGB and MS BMP image formats. (This plug-in is available on the Irix 6.2 update CD, along with Netscape 2.0S and half a dozen other plug-ins.)

  • PNG Magick plug-in [Rasca Gmelch] (Unix/X) - all versions; read-only (still an alpha version; requires ImageMagick's convert utility)

  • FIGleaf Inline plug-in [Carberry Technology / EBT] (Windows 9x/NT) - all versions; read-only; also supported CGM, RGB, TIFF, PBM/PGM/PPM, encapsulated PostScript, Group 4 fax, Sun raster and MS BMP and WMF image formats. (This product has been discontinued. The PNG support was flaky, anyway. Macintosh and Windows 3.x versions were never released.)

  • Panacea PNG plug-in [Panacea Software] (OS/2) - all versions; read-only. (This product has been discontinued. It was only available as a beta for a couple of weeks before being pulled.)

• Netkit [Netsurfer] (NeXTStep/OpenStep) - all versions; read-only. (This product has been discontinued. Netkit was actually an object-oriented toolkit for creating custom browsers; it looked pretty cool.)

• Netsurfer [Netsurfer] (NeXTStep/OpenStep) - version 1.1 and later; read-only. (This product has been discontinued.)

• OmniWeb [Omni Development] (NeXTStep/OpenStep) - version 2.0 and later; read-only; full gamma support; progressive display of interlaced images (sparse method); no alpha support

• Opera [Opera Software] (Windows 3.x, Windows 9x/NT) - version 3.51 and later; binary transparency (some of the time, and apparently only for palette-based images); progressive display; full gamma support; read-only; commercial. (Version 3.50 also supports PNG via old-style plug-ins, such as PNG Live 1.0, that support neither transparency nor progressive display; see Netscape Navigator above).

• SPRYNET Mosaic [SPRY / CompuServe] (Windows 3.x) - all versions; read-only; full gamma support. (Also known as Mosaic 95, Mosaic in a Box for Windows 95, SPRY Mosaic 4.0 and/or AIR Mosaic. This thing used to change names and web sites every couple of months and now appears to be completely dead.)

• Spyglass Mosaic [Spyglass] (Windows 3.x, NT, Macintosh, Unix/X) - version 2.2; read-only. (This product appears to have died as a consumer product but been resurrected as a variety of embedded and server products. See Spyglass Prism below.)

• Spyglass Prism [Spyglass] (Solaris, Windows NT) - all versions? read/write? commercial. (See also this December 1996 press release.)

• Termite / Webite [DoggySoft] (Acorn) - any version with David McCormack's Progress helper app, listed on the miscellaneous apps page; read-only

• Turnpike [Turnpike] (Windows 3.x, Windows 9x/NT) - version 4.00 and later; read-only. (This is actually a complete dial-up Internet package with a bundled TCP/IP stack, all of the usual utilities and a browser.)

• UdiWWW [Bernd Richter] (Windows 3.x, Windows 9x/NT) - all versions since 29 September 95; read-only (also see Stroud's review)

• Voyager [VaporWare] (Amiga) - any version prior to 2.7 with a PNG DataType (see the miscellaneous apps page for a couple); read-only; requires MUI. (Also known as MindWalker in the Amiga Technologies Surfer Pack. Version 2.7 introduces native PNG support and is known as VoyagerNG; see below.)

• VoyagerNG [VaporWare] (Amiga) - version 2.7 and later; read-only; progressive display; requires MUI

• WebView [South Pacific Information Services] (Windows 3.x, Windows 9x/NT) - version 2.6 and later; read-only

• WinCIM / `CSi CompuServe software' [CompuServe] (Windows 3.x) - version 2.0.1 and later; read-only; progressive display of interlaced images (replicating method)

• XEmacs [Lucid, Sun, UIUC, etc.] (Unix/X) - version 19.14 and later; read-only; uses libpng and zlib. (This is lumped in with the browsers due to W3 mode.)

• XMayday [Axene] (Unix/X) - all versions; read-only. (This is an HTML browser for local files only; it is primarily intended to be used for viewing documentation in HTML format, including that accompanying Axene's other products on the miscellaneous apps page.)

Here are the other PNG-related pages at this site:

• Introduction to PNG features
• History of PNG
• News (and more history) of the PNG Development Group
• PNG Documentation
  • zlib Documentation
  • MNG Documentation
• PNG Programming Information:
  • PNG Source Code and Libraries
  • zlib home page
  • PNG-supporting Application Toolkits
  • PNG Support in Mozilla
• PNG-supporting Applications
  • Image Viewers
  • Image Editors
  • Image Converters
  • Miscellaneous Applications
• PNG support in VRML browsers
• PNG Images:
  • Willem's Test Suite of PNG Icons
  • Ray-traced PNG Interlacing Demo (also GIF / JPEG version)
  • Miscellaneous Images
• Links to other PNG resources
• Back to the PNG home page
• Back to the MNG home site

Copyright © 1995-1999 Greg Roelofs.