MNG (animated PNG predecessor)
Also known as: Multiple-image Network Graphics, .mng file, animated PNG predecessor
MNG (Multiple-image Network Graphics) is an animation format from the PNG family, designed as a richer successor to animated GIF. It never gained broad browser or app support and is effectively obsolete, with APNG having become the practical animated-PNG standard.
- PNG-family animation format, GIF successor
- Never widely supported; effectively obsolete
- APNG became the practical animated-PNG standard
What MNG aimed to be
MNG extended the PNG project into animation, offering true color and alpha transparency that animated GIF could not. On paper it was a stronger format, but it was complex to implement and arrived without the backing it needed to catch on.
Mainstream browsers and image tools largely never supported it, so MNG files are rare and hard to open today.
What replaced it
The simpler APNG format — which extends PNG for animation while staying backward-compatible — won out and is what modern browsers actually support. If you encounter an MNG file, converting its frames to APNG, an animated WebP, or MP4 makes the animation usable again.