Reference

JNG

JNG (JPEG Network Graphics) is a niche image format that pairs JPEG-compressed photo data with a separate transparency channel. It was designed as a companion to PNG and MNG for cases where JPEG quality and an alpha channel were both needed.

Files & formatsGeneral

JNG

Also known as: JPEG Network Graphics, .jng file

Combines JPEG data with a transparency channel
Companion to the PNG/MNG family
Obscure; superseded by WebP and AVIF

What JNG tried to solve

PNG offers transparency but compresses photos poorly; JPEG compresses photos well but has no transparency. JNG combined JPEG image data with a separate alpha channel to get both.

It is part of the same family as MNG, the animated counterpart to PNG, and shares its chunk-based structure.

JNG today

JNG never gained browser support and stayed obscure. Modern formats like WebP and AVIF cover the same need — photo compression plus transparency — so JNG is effectively unused today.

Related terms

Keep reading the reference.

Files & formatsPNGPNG (.png) is a lossless image format that keeps every pixel exact and supports transparency. That makes it ideal for screenshots, logos, and graphics, but files are much larger than JPEG or WebP — so a folder full of PNG screenshots can quietly fill storage.General Files & formatsWebPWebP (.webp) is a modern Google image format that supports both lossy and lossless compression, transparency, and animation in one file. It produces noticeably smaller files than JPEG or PNG at similar quality, so it is widely used on the web and increasingly on Android.GeneralAndroid Files & formatsAlpha channel (transparency)An alpha channel is the part of an image that records transparency — how see-through each pixel is. It lets formats like PNG, WebP, and GIF place a subject over any background. JPEG has no alpha channel, so it cannot store transparency.General