Free PNG Viewer for Windows, macOS and Linux

PNG (Portable Network Graphics, .png) is a lossless image format originally published by the W3C in 1996 and standardized as ISO/IEC 15948 in 2003. XnView MP reads, displays and writes PNG on Windows, macOS and Linux, including the full alpha channel and animated PNG (APNG). XnConvert performs bulk conversion to and from PNG with optional resize, watermark or metadata steps.

XnView PNG support at a glance

Animated PNG (APNG) player

Browsers animate APNG files on web pages, but most desktop viewers — including the Microsoft Photos app on Windows — show only the first frame. XnView MP plays animated PNG natively: the animation runs as soon as the file opens, and the Pages panel lets you step through frames or save any frame as a still image. Since the PNG Third Edition (W3C, 2025), APNG is officially part of the core PNG specification.

PNG vs WebP: which should you use?

Keep PNG for editing, screenshots and lossless archiving — it opens everywhere and never loses a pixel. For web delivery, WebP in lossless mode produces files around 26 % smaller, and AVIF smaller still. XnConvert converts a whole folder either way in one pass.

About the PNG format

PNG was created in 1996 as a patent-free successor to GIF. It uses lossless DEFLATE compression (the same algorithm as ZIP) and supports indexed color, grayscale, truecolor RGB and full 8-bit alpha transparency. PNG also supports gamma correction and color profile embedding. The animated variant, APNG, extends PNG with multiple frames while remaining backward-compatible with viewers that only display the first frame.

Key characteristics of PNG

How to view and convert PNG files with XnView

Open a .png file

Launch XnView MP, then File > Open and select the PNG, or drag the file onto the XnView MP window. Transparent areas show against a checkerboard background by default.

Convert PNG to JPEG, WebP, TIFF or another format

In XnView MP: File > Save as, then pick the output format. For batch conversion, open XnConvert, drag the PNG files in, choose the output format and click Convert.

Reduce the size of a PNG (compression)

When saving a PNG, XnView exposes the compression level (0 to 9). Higher values produce smaller files without losing quality, since PNG compression is lossless. For more aggressive savings, convert the PNG to WebP (lossless) which typically produces 25-35% smaller files.

Frequently asked questions

Is XnView a free PNG viewer?

Yes. XnView MP and XnView Classic are free for private, educational and non-profit use, including PNG viewing, editing and conversion. A paid license is required for commercial use in a company.

Does XnView preserve PNG transparency (alpha channel)?

Yes. XnView MP reads and writes the full 8-bit alpha channel of PNG (RGBA) and the 1-bit transparency of indexed PNG, preserving transparency when opening, displaying and exporting files.

Can XnView open APNG (animated PNG) files?

Yes. XnView MP and XnConvert read and write APNG files. The viewer plays the animation natively and the Pages panel lets you step through individual frames.

How do I batch convert PNG to JPEG, WebP or TIFF?

Open XnConvert, drag your PNG files in, pick the target format in the Output tab (JPEG, WebP, TIFF, etc.) and click Convert. Add Resize, Watermark or Metadata steps in the Actions tab if needed.

Can XnView convert JPEG to PNG without losing quality?

Yes. Open the JPEG in XnView MP, then File > Save as > PNG. PNG is a lossless format, so the result preserves all the pixel data of the source JPEG. For multiple files, use XnConvert with PNG selected as the output format.

How do I open a PNG file on Windows 11?

Double-click it — Windows opens PNG natively. For animated PNG (APNG), however, the Microsoft Photos app shows only the first frame; install XnView MP and set it as the default app for .png to get playback, editing and batch conversion.