PNG

PNG was created in 1996 as an open, patent-free alternative to GIF after licensing disputes arose over GIF's LZW compression. It supports lossless compression, a full RGB color spectrum, and an alpha transparency channel — features that make it the preferred format for user interface graphics, screenshots, and any image where sharp edges or text must remain crisp. PNG does not support animation (its animated sibling, APNG, is a separate extension).