Provided by: libpng16-dev_1.6.20-2_amd64 
NAME
libpng - Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Reference Library 1.6.20
SYNOPSIS
#include <png.h>
png_uint_32 png_access_version_number (void);
void png_benign_error (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_charp error);
void png_build_grayscale_palette (int bit_depth, png_colorp palette);
png_voidp png_calloc (png_structp png_ptr, png_alloc_size_t size);
void png_chunk_benign_error (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_charp error);
void png_chunk_error (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_charp error);
void png_chunk_warning (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_charp message);
void png_convert_from_struct_tm (png_timep ptime, struct tm FAR * ttime);
void png_convert_from_time_t (png_timep ptime, time_t ttime);
png_charp png_convert_to_rfc1123 (png_structp png_ptr, png_timep ptime);
png_infop png_create_info_struct (png_structp png_ptr);
png_structp png_create_read_struct (png_const_charp user_png_ver, png_voidp error_ptr, png_error_ptr
error_fn, png_error_ptr warn_fn);
png_structp png_create_read_struct_2 (png_const_charp user_png_ver, png_voidp error_ptr, png_error_ptr
error_fn, png_error_ptr warn_fn, png_voidp mem_ptr, png_malloc_ptr malloc_fn, png_free_ptr free_fn);
png_structp png_create_write_struct (png_const_charp user_png_ver, png_voidp error_ptr, png_error_ptr
error_fn, png_error_ptr warn_fn);
png_structp png_create_write_struct_2 (png_const_charp user_png_ver, png_voidp error_ptr, png_error_ptr
error_fn, png_error_ptr warn_fn, png_voidp mem_ptr, png_malloc_ptr malloc_fn, png_free_ptr free_fn);
void png_data_freer (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int freer, png_uint_32 mask));
void png_destroy_info_struct (png_structp png_ptr, png_infopp info_ptr_ptr);
void png_destroy_read_struct (png_structpp png_ptr_ptr, png_infopp info_ptr_ptr, png_infopp
end_info_ptr_ptr);
void png_destroy_write_struct (png_structpp png_ptr_ptr, png_infopp info_ptr_ptr);
void png_err (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_error (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_charp error);
void png_free (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp ptr);
void png_free_chunk_list (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_free_default (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp ptr);
void png_free_data (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int num);
png_byte png_get_bit_depth (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_bKGD (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_color_16p *background);
png_byte png_get_channels (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_cHRM (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, double *white_x, double
*white_y, double *red_x, double *red_y, double *green_x, double *green_y, double *blue_x, double
*blue_y);
png_uint_32 png_get_cHRM_fixed (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32
*white_x, png_uint_32 *white_y, png_uint_32 *red_x, png_uint_32 *red_y, png_uint_32 *green_x, png_uint_32
*green_y, png_uint_32 *blue_x, png_uint_32 *blue_y);
png_uint_32 png_get_cHRM_XYZ (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, double *red_X, double
*red_Y, double *red_Z, double *green_X, double *green_Y, double *green_Z, double *blue_X, double *blue_Y,
double *blue_Z);
png_uint_32 png_get_cHRM_XYZ_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_fixed_point
*int_red_X, png_fixed_point *int_red_Y, png_fixed_point *int_red_Z, png_fixed_point *int_green_X,
png_fixed_point *int_green_Y, png_fixed_point *int_green_Z, png_fixed_point *int_blue_X, png_fixed_point
*int_blue_Y, png_fixed_point *int_blue_Z);
png_uint_32 png_get_chunk_cache_max (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_alloc_size_t png_get_chunk_malloc_max (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_byte png_get_color_type (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_compression_buffer_size (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_byte png_get_compression_type (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_byte png_get_copyright (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_current_row_number (png_const_structp);
png_byte png_get_current_pass_number (png_const_structp);
png_voidp png_get_error_ptr (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_byte png_get_filter_type (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_gAMA (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, double *file_gamma);
png_uint_32 png_get_gAMA_fixed (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32
*int_file_gamma);
png_byte png_get_header_ver (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_byte png_get_header_version (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_hIST (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_uint_16p *hist);
png_uint_32 png_get_iCCP (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_charpp name, int
*compression_type, png_bytepp profile, png_uint_32 *proflen);
png_uint_32 png_get_IHDR (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 *width, png_uint_32
*height, int *bit_depth, int *color_type, int *interlace_type, int *compression_type, int *filter_type);
png_uint_32 png_get_image_height (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_image_width (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_int_32 png_get_int_32 (png_bytep buf);
png_byte png_get_interlace_type (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_io_chunk_type (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_voidp png_get_io_ptr (png_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_io_state (png_structp png_ptr);
png_byte png_get_libpng_ver (png_const_structp png_ptr);
int png_get_palette_max(png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_voidp png_get_mem_ptr (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_oFFs (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 *offset_x,
png_uint_32 *offset_y, int *unit_type);
png_uint_32 png_get_pCAL (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_charp *purpose,
png_int_32 *X0, png_int_32 *X1, int *type, int *nparams, png_charp *units, png_charpp *params);
png_uint_32 png_get_pHYs (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 *res_x,
png_uint_32 *res_y, int *unit_type);
float png_get_pixel_aspect_ratio (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_pHYs_dpi (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 *res_x,
png_uint_32 *res_y, int *unit_type);
png_fixed_point png_get_pixel_aspect_ratio_fixed (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_pixels_per_inch (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_pixels_per_meter (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_voidp png_get_progressive_ptr (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_PLTE (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_colorp *palette, int
*num_palette);
png_byte png_get_rgb_to_gray_status (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_rowbytes (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_bytepp png_get_rows (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_sBIT (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_color_8p *sig_bit);
void png_get_sCAL (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, int* unit, double* width, double*
height);
void png_get_sCAL_fixed (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, int* unit, png_fixed_pointp
width, png_fixed_pointp height);
void png_get_sCAL_s (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, int* unit, png_charpp width,
png_charpp height);
png_bytep png_get_signature (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_sPLT (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_spalette_p *splt_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_sRGB (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, int *file_srgb_intent);
png_uint_32 png_get_text (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_textp *text_ptr, int
*num_text);
png_uint_32 png_get_tIME (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_timep *mod_time);
png_uint_32 png_get_tRNS (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_bytep *trans_alpha, int
*num_trans, png_color_16p *trans_color);
/* This function is really an inline macro. */
png_uint_16 png_get_uint_16 (png_bytep buf);
png_uint_32 png_get_uint_31 (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep buf);
/* This function is really an inline macro. */
png_uint_32 png_get_uint_32 (png_bytep buf);
png_uint_32 png_get_unknown_chunks (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr,
png_unknown_chunkpp unknowns);
png_voidp png_get_user_chunk_ptr (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_user_height_max (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_voidp png_get_user_transform_ptr (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_user_width_max (png_const_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_valid (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 flag);
float png_get_x_offset_inches (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_fixed_point png_get_x_offset_inches_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_int_32 png_get_x_offset_microns (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_int_32 png_get_x_offset_pixels (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_x_pixels_per_inch (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_x_pixels_per_meter (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
float png_get_y_offset_inches (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_fixed_point png_get_y_offset_inches_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_int_32 png_get_y_offset_microns (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_int_32 png_get_y_offset_pixels (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_y_pixels_per_inch (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_get_y_pixels_per_meter (png_const_structp png_ptr, png_const_infop info_ptr);
int png_handle_as_unknown (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep chunk_name);
int png_image_begin_read_from_file (png_imagep image, const char *file_name);
int png_image_begin_read_from_stdio (png_imagep image, FILE* file);
int, png_image_begin_read_from_memory (png_imagep image, png_const_voidp memory, png_size_t size);
int png_image_finish_read (png_imagep image, png_colorp background, void *buffer, png_int_32 row_stride,
void *colormap);
void png_image_free (png_imagep image);
int png_image_write_to_file (png_imagep image, const char *file, int convert_to_8bit, const void *buffer,
png_int_32 row_stride, void *colormap);
int png_image_write_to_stdio (png_imagep image, FILE *file, int convert_to_8_bit, const void *buffer,
png_int_32 row_stride, void *colormap));
void png_info_init_3 (png_infopp info_ptr, png_size_t png_info_struct_size);
void png_init_io (png_structp png_ptr, FILE *fp);
void png_longjmp (png_structp png_ptr, int val);
png_voidp png_malloc (png_structp png_ptr, png_alloc_size_t size);
png_voidp png_malloc_default (png_structp png_ptr, png_alloc_size_t size);
png_voidp png_malloc_warn (png_structp png_ptr, png_alloc_size_t size);
png_uint_32 png_permit_mng_features (png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 mng_features_permitted);
void png_process_data (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_bytep buffer, png_size_t
buffer_size);
png_size_t png_process_data_pause (png_structp, int save);
png_uint_32 png_process_data_skip (png_structp);
void png_progressive_combine_row (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep old_row, png_bytep new_row);
void png_read_end (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr);
void png_read_image (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytepp image);
void png_read_info (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr);
void png_read_png (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int transforms, png_voidp params);
void png_read_row (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep row, png_bytep display_row);
void png_read_rows (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytepp row, png_bytepp display_row, png_uint_32 num_rows);
void png_read_update_info (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr);
int png_reset_zstream (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_save_int_32 (png_bytep buf, png_int_32 i);
void png_save_uint_16 (png_bytep buf, unsigned int i);
void png_save_uint_32 (png_bytep buf, png_uint_32 i);
void png_set_add_alpha (png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 filler, int flags);
void png_set_alpha_mode (png_structp png_ptr, int mode, double output_gamma);
void png_set_alpha_mode_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, int mode, png_fixed_point output_gamma);
void png_set_background (png_structp png_ptr, png_color_16p background_color, int background_gamma_code,
int need_expand, double background_gamma);
void png_set_background_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_color_16p background_color, int
background_gamma_code, int need_expand, png_uint_32 background_gamma);
void png_set_benign_errors (png_structp png_ptr, int allowed);
void png_set_bgr (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_bKGD (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_color_16p background);
void png_set_check_for_invalid_index(png_structrp png_ptr, int allowed);
void png_set_cHRM (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, double white_x, double white_y, double red_x,
double red_y, double green_x, double green_y, double blue_x, double blue_y);
void png_set_cHRM_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 white_x, png_uint_32
white_y, png_uint_32 red_x, png_uint_32 red_y, png_uint_32 green_x, png_uint_32 green_y, png_uint_32
blue_x, png_uint_32 blue_y);
void png_set_cHRM_XYZ (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, double red_X, double red_Y, double red_Z,
double green_X, double green_Y, double green_Z, double blue_X, double blue_Y, double blue_Z);
void png_set_cHRM_XYZ_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_fixed_point int_red_X,
png_fixed_point int_red_Y, png_fixed_point int_red_Z, png_fixed_point int_green_X, png_fixed_point
int_green_Y, png_fixed_point int_green_Z, png_fixed_point int_blue_X, png_fixed_point int_blue_Y,
png_fixed_point int_blue_Z);
void png_set_chunk_cache_max (png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 user_chunk_cache_max);
void png_set_compression_level (png_structp png_ptr, int level);
void png_set_compression_mem_level (png_structp png_ptr, int mem_level);
void png_set_compression_method (png_structp png_ptr, int method);
void png_set_compression_strategy (png_structp png_ptr, int strategy);
void png_set_compression_window_bits (png_structp png_ptr, int window_bits);
void png_set_crc_action (png_structp png_ptr, int crit_action, int ancil_action);
void png_set_error_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp error_ptr, png_error_ptr error_fn, png_error_ptr
warning_fn);
void png_set_expand (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_expand_16 (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_expand_gray_1_2_4_to_8 (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_filler (png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 filler, int flags);
void png_set_filter (png_structp png_ptr, int method, int filters);
void png_set_filter_heuristics (png_structp png_ptr, int heuristic_method, int num_weights, png_doublep
filter_weights, png_doublep filter_costs);
void png_set_filter_heuristics_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, int heuristic_method, int num_weights,
png_fixed_point_p filter_weights, png_fixed_point_p filter_costs);
void png_set_flush (png_structp png_ptr, int nrows);
void png_set_gamma (png_structp png_ptr, double screen_gamma, double default_file_gamma);
void png_set_gamma_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 screen_gamma, png_uint_32 default_file_gamma);
void png_set_gAMA (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, double file_gamma);
void png_set_gAMA_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 file_gamma);
void png_set_gray_1_2_4_to_8 (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_gray_to_rgb (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_hIST (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_uint_16p hist);
void png_set_iCCP (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_const_charp name, int compression_type,
png_const_bytep profile, png_uint_32 proflen);
int png_set_interlace_handling (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_invalid (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int mask);
void png_set_invert_alpha (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_invert_mono (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_IHDR (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 width, png_uint_32 height, int
bit_depth, int color_type, int interlace_type, int compression_type, int filter_type);
void png_set_keep_unknown_chunks (png_structp png_ptr, int keep, png_bytep chunk_list, int num_chunks);
jmp_buf* png_set_longjmp_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_longjmp_ptr longjmp_fn, size_t jmp_buf_size);
void png_set_chunk_malloc_max (png_structp png_ptr, png_alloc_size_t user_chunk_cache_max);
void png_set_compression_buffer_size (png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 size);
void png_set_mem_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp mem_ptr, png_malloc_ptr malloc_fn, png_free_ptr
free_fn);
void png_set_oFFs (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 offset_x, png_uint_32 offset_y,
int unit_type);
int png_set_option(png_structrp png_ptr, int option, int onoff);
void png_set_packing (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_packswap (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_palette_to_rgb (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_pCAL (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_charp purpose, png_int_32 X0, png_int_32
X1, int type, int nparams, png_charp units, png_charpp params);
void png_set_pHYs (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_uint_32 res_x, png_uint_32 res_y, int
unit_type);
void png_set_progressive_read_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp progressive_ptr,
png_progressive_info_ptr info_fn, png_progressive_row_ptr row_fn, png_progressive_end_ptr end_fn);
void png_set_PLTE (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_colorp palette, int num_palette);
void png_set_quantize (png_structp png_ptr, png_colorp palette, int num_palette, int maximum_colors,
png_uint_16p histogram, int full_quantize);
void png_set_read_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp io_ptr, png_rw_ptr read_data_fn);
void png_set_read_status_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_read_status_ptr read_row_fn);
void png_set_read_user_chunk_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp user_chunk_ptr, png_user_chunk_ptr
read_user_chunk_fn);
void png_set_read_user_transform_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_user_transform_ptr read_user_transform_fn);
void png_set_rgb_to_gray (png_structp png_ptr, int error_action, double red, double green);
void png_set_rgb_to_gray_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, int error_action png_uint_32 red, png_uint_32
green);
void png_set_rows (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_bytepp row_pointers);
void png_set_sBIT (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_color_8p sig_bit);
void png_set_sCAL (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int unit, double width, double height);
void png_set_sCAL_fixed (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int unit, png_fixed_point width,
png_fixed_point height);
void png_set_sCAL_s (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int unit, png_charp width, png_charp
height);
void png_set_scale_16 (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_shift (png_structp png_ptr, png_color_8p true_bits);
void png_set_sig_bytes (png_structp png_ptr, int num_bytes);
void png_set_sPLT (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_spalette_p splt_ptr, int num_spalettes);
void png_set_sRGB (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int srgb_intent);
void png_set_sRGB_gAMA_and_cHRM (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int srgb_intent);
void png_set_strip_16 (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_strip_alpha (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_strip_error_numbers (png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 strip_mode);
void png_set_swap (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_swap_alpha (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_set_text (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_textp text_ptr, int num_text);
void png_set_text_compression_level (png_structp png_ptr, int level);
void png_set_text_compression_mem_level (png_structp png_ptr, int mem_level);
void png_set_text_compression_strategy (png_structp png_ptr, int strategy);
void png_set_text_compression_window_bits (png_structp png_ptr, int window_bits);
void png_set_text_compression_method, (png_structp png_ptr, int method));
void png_set_tIME (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_timep mod_time);
void png_set_tRNS (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_bytep trans_alpha, int num_trans,
png_color_16p trans_color);
void png_set_tRNS_to_alpha (png_structp png_ptr);
png_uint_32 png_set_unknown_chunks (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, png_unknown_chunkp unknowns,
int num, int location);
void png_set_unknown_chunk_location (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int chunk, int location);
void png_set_user_limits (png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 user_width_max, png_uint_32 user_height_max);
void png_set_user_transform_info (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp user_transform_ptr, int
user_transform_depth, int user_transform_channels);
void png_set_write_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp io_ptr, png_rw_ptr write_data_fn, png_flush_ptr
output_flush_fn);
void png_set_write_status_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_write_status_ptr write_row_fn);
void png_set_write_user_transform_fn (png_structp png_ptr, png_user_transform_ptr
write_user_transform_fn);
int png_sig_cmp (png_bytep sig, png_size_t start, png_size_t num_to_check);
void png_start_read_image (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_warning (png_structp png_ptr, png_const_charp message);
void png_write_chunk (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep chunk_name, png_bytep data, png_size_t length);
void png_write_chunk_data (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep data, png_size_t length);
void png_write_chunk_end (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_write_chunk_start (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep chunk_name, png_uint_32 length);
void png_write_end (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr);
void png_write_flush (png_structp png_ptr);
void png_write_image (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytepp image);
void png_write_info (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr);
void png_write_info_before_PLTE (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr);
void png_write_png (png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info_ptr, int transforms, png_voidp params);
void png_write_row (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep row);
void png_write_rows (png_structp png_ptr, png_bytepp row, png_uint_32 num_rows);
void png_write_sig (png_structp png_ptr);
DESCRIPTION
The libpng library supports encoding, decoding, and various manipulations of the Portable Network
Graphics (PNG) format image files. It uses the zlib(3) compression library. Following is a copy of the
libpng-manual.txt file that accompanies libpng.
LIBPNG.TXT
libpng-manual.txt - A description on how to use and modify libpng
libpng version 1.6.20 - December 3, 2015
Updated and distributed by Glenn Randers-Pehrson
<glennrp at users.sourceforge.net>
Copyright (c) 1998-2015 Glenn Randers-Pehrson
This document is released under the libpng license.
For conditions of distribution and use, see the disclaimer
and license in png.h
Based on:
libpng versions 0.97, January 1998, through 1.6.20 - December 3, 2015
Updated and distributed by Glenn Randers-Pehrson
Copyright (c) 1998-2015 Glenn Randers-Pehrson
libpng 1.0 beta 6 - version 0.96 - May 28, 1997
Updated and distributed by Andreas Dilger
Copyright (c) 1996, 1997 Andreas Dilger
libpng 1.0 beta 2 - version 0.88 - January 26, 1996
For conditions of distribution and use, see copyright
notice in png.h. Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Guy Eric
Schalnat, Group 42, Inc.
Updated/rewritten per request in the libpng FAQ
Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Frank J. T. Wojcik
December 18, 1995 & January 20, 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction
II. Structures
III. Reading
IV. Writing
V. Simplified API
VI. Modifying/Customizing libpng
VII. MNG support
VIII. Changes to Libpng from version 0.88
IX. Changes to Libpng from version 1.0.x to 1.2.x
X. Changes to Libpng from version 1.0.x/1.2.x to 1.4.x
XI. Changes to Libpng from version 1.4.x to 1.5.x
XII. Changes to Libpng from version 1.5.x to 1.6.x
XIII. Detecting libpng
XIV. Source code repository
XV. Coding style
XVI. Y2K Compliance in libpng
I. Introduction
This file describes how to use and modify the PNG reference library (known as libpng) for your own use.
In addition to this file, example.c is a good starting point for using the library, as it is heavily
commented and should include everything most people will need. We assume that libpng is already
installed; see the INSTALL file for instructions on how to configure and install libpng.
For examples of libpng usage, see the files "example.c", "pngtest.c", and the files in the "contrib"
directory, all of which are included in the libpng distribution.
Libpng was written as a companion to the PNG specification, as a way of reducing the amount of time and
effort it takes to support the PNG file format in application programs.
The PNG specification (second edition), November 2003, is available as a W3C Recommendation and as an ISO
Standard (ISO/IEC 15948:2004 (E)) at <http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/REC-PNG-20031110/ The W3C and ISO
documents have identical technical content.
The PNG-1.2 specification is available at <http://png-mng.sourceforge.net/pub/png/spec/1.2/>. It is
technically equivalent to the PNG specification (second edition) but has some additional material.
The PNG-1.0 specification is available as RFC 2083 <http://png-mng.sourceforge.net/pub/png/spec/1.0/> and
as a W3C Recommendation <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-png-961001>.
Some additional chunks are described in the special-purpose public chunks documents at
<http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/spec/register/>
Other information about PNG, and the latest version of libpng, can be found at the PNG home page,
<http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/>.
Most users will not have to modify the library significantly; advanced users may want to modify it more.
All attempts were made to make it as complete as possible, while keeping the code easy to understand.
Currently, this library only supports C. Support for other languages is being considered.
Libpng has been designed to handle multiple sessions at one time, to be easily modifiable, to be portable
to the vast majority of machines (ANSI, K&R, 16-, 32-, and 64-bit) available, and to be easy to use. The
ultimate goal of libpng is to promote the acceptance of the PNG file format in whatever way possible.
While there is still work to be done (see the TODO file), libpng should cover the majority of the needs
of its users.
Libpng uses zlib for its compression and decompression of PNG files. Further information about zlib, and
the latest version of zlib, can be found at the zlib home page, <http://zlib.net/>. The zlib compression
utility is a general purpose utility that is useful for more than PNG files, and can be used without
libpng. See the documentation delivered with zlib for more details. You can usually find the source
files for the zlib utility wherever you find the libpng source files.
Libpng is thread safe, provided the threads are using different instances of the structures. Each thread
should have its own png_struct and png_info instances, and thus its own image. Libpng does not protect
itself against two threads using the same instance of a structure.
II. Structures
There are two main structures that are important to libpng, png_struct and png_info. Both are internal
structures that are no longer exposed in the libpng interface (as of libpng 1.5.0).
The png_info structure is designed to provide information about the PNG file. At one time, the fields of
png_info were intended to be directly accessible to the user. However, this tended to cause problems
with applications using dynamically loaded libraries, and as a result a set of interface functions for
png_info (the png_get_*() and png_set_*() functions) was developed, and direct access to the png_info
fields was deprecated..
The png_struct structure is the object used by the library to decode a single image. As of 1.5.0 this
structure is also not exposed.
Almost all libpng APIs require a pointer to a png_struct as the first argument. Many (in particular the
png_set and png_get APIs) also require a pointer to png_info as the second argument. Some application
visible macros defined in png.h designed for basic data access (reading and writing integers in the PNG
format) don't take a png_info pointer, but it's almost always safe to assume that a (png_struct*) has to
be passed to call an API function.
You can have more than one png_info structure associated with an image, as illustrated in pngtest.c, one
for information valid prior to the IDAT chunks and another (called "end_info" below) for things after
them.
The png.h header file is an invaluable reference for programming with libpng. And while I'm on the
topic, make sure you include the libpng header file:
#include <png.h>
and also (as of libpng-1.5.0) the zlib header file, if you need it:
#include <zlib.h>
Types
The png.h header file defines a number of integral types used by the APIs. Most of these are fairly
obvious; for example types corresponding to integers of particular sizes and types for passing color
values.
One exception is how non-integral numbers are handled. For application convenience most APIs that take
such numbers have C (double) arguments; however, internally PNG, and libpng, use 32 bit signed integers
and encode the value by multiplying by 100,000. As of libpng 1.5.0 a convenience macro PNG_FP_1 is
defined in png.h along with a type (png_fixed_point) which is simply (png_int_32).
All APIs that take (double) arguments also have a matching API that takes the corresponding fixed point
integer arguments. The fixed point API has the same name as the floating point one with "_fixed"
appended. The actual range of values permitted in the APIs is frequently less than the full range of
(png_fixed_point) (-21474 to +21474). When APIs require a non-negative argument the type is recorded as
png_uint_32 above. Consult the header file and the text below for more information.
Special care must be take with sCAL chunk handling because the chunk itself uses non-integral values
encoded as strings containing decimal floating point numbers. See the comments in the header file.
Configuration
The main header file function declarations are frequently protected by C preprocessing directives of the
form:
#ifdef PNG_feature_SUPPORTED
declare-function
#endif
...
#ifdef PNG_feature_SUPPORTED
use-function
#endif
The library can be built without support for these APIs, although a standard build will have all
implemented APIs. Application programs should check the feature macros before using an API for maximum
portability. From libpng 1.5.0 the feature macros set during the build of libpng are recorded in the
header file "pnglibconf.h" and this file is always included by png.h.
If you don't need to change the library configuration from the default, skip to the next section
("Reading").
Notice that some of the makefiles in the 'scripts' directory and (in 1.5.0) all of the build project
files in the 'projects' directory simply copy scripts/pnglibconf.h.prebuilt to pnglibconf.h. This means
that these build systems do not permit easy auto-configuration of the library - they only support the
default configuration.
The easiest way to make minor changes to the libpng configuration when auto-configuration is supported is
to add definitions to the command line using (typically) CPPFLAGS. For example:
CPPFLAGS=-DPNG_NO_FLOATING_ARITHMETIC
will change the internal libpng math implementation for gamma correction and other arithmetic
calculations to fixed point, avoiding the need for fast floating point support. The result can be seen
in the generated pnglibconf.h - make sure it contains the changed feature macro setting.
If you need to make more extensive configuration changes - more than one or two feature macro settings -
you can either add -DPNG_USER_CONFIG to the build command line and put a list of feature macro settings
in pngusr.h or you can set DFA_XTRA (a makefile variable) to a file containing the same information in
the form of 'option' settings.
A. Changing pnglibconf.h
A variety of methods exist to build libpng. Not all of these support reconfiguration of pnglibconf.h.
To reconfigure pnglibconf.h it must either be rebuilt from scripts/pnglibconf.dfa using awk or it must be
edited by hand.
Hand editing is achieved by copying scripts/pnglibconf.h.prebuilt to pnglibconf.h and changing the lines
defining the supported features, paying very close attention to the 'option' information in
scripts/pnglibconf.dfa that describes those features and their requirements. This is easy to get wrong.
B. Configuration using DFA_XTRA
Rebuilding from pnglibconf.dfa is easy if a functioning 'awk', or a later variant such as 'nawk' or
'gawk', is available. The configure build will automatically find an appropriate awk and build
pnglibconf.h. The scripts/pnglibconf.mak file contains a set of make rules for doing the same thing if
configure is not used, and many of the makefiles in the scripts directory use this approach.
When rebuilding simply write a new file containing changed options and set DFA_XTRA to the name of this
file. This causes the build to append the new file to the end of scripts/pnglibconf.dfa. The pngusr.dfa
file should contain lines of the following forms:
everything = off
This turns all optional features off. Include it at the start of pngusr.dfa to make it easier to build a
minimal configuration. You will need to turn at least some features on afterward to enable either
reading or writing code, or both.
option feature on option feature off
Enable or disable a single feature. This will automatically enable other features required by a feature
that is turned on or disable other features that require a feature which is turned off. Conflicting
settings will cause an error message to be emitted by awk.
setting feature default value
Changes the default value of setting 'feature' to 'value'. There are a small number of settings listed
at the top of pnglibconf.h, they are documented in the source code. Most of these values have
performance implications for the library but most of them have no visible effect on the API. Some can
also be overridden from the API.
This method of building a customized pnglibconf.h is illustrated in contrib/pngminim/*. See the
"$(PNGCONF):" target in the makefile and pngusr.dfa in these directories.
C. Configuration using PNG_USER_CONFIG
If -DPNG_USER_CONFIG is added to the CPPFLAGS when pnglibconf.h is built, the file pngusr.h will
automatically be included before the options in scripts/pnglibconf.dfa are processed. Your pngusr.h file
should contain only macro definitions turning features on or off or setting settings.
Apart from the global setting "everything = off" all the options listed above can be set using macros in
pngusr.h:
#define PNG_feature_SUPPORTED
is equivalent to:
option feature on
#define PNG_NO_feature
is equivalent to:
option feature off
#define PNG_feature value
is equivalent to:
setting feature default value
Notice that in both cases, pngusr.dfa and pngusr.h, the contents of the pngusr file you supply override
the contents of scripts/pnglibconf.dfa
If confusing or incomprehensible behavior results it is possible to examine the intermediate file
pnglibconf.dfn to find the full set of dependency information for each setting and option. Simply locate
the feature in the file and read the C comments that precede it.
This method is also illustrated in the contrib/pngminim/* makefiles and pngusr.h.
III. Reading
We'll now walk you through the possible functions to call when reading in a PNG file sequentially,
briefly explaining the syntax and purpose of each one. See example.c and png.h for more detail. While
progressive reading is covered in the next section, you will still need some of the functions discussed
in this section to read a PNG file.
Setup
You will want to do the I/O initialization(*) before you get into libpng, so if it doesn't work, you
don't have much to undo. Of course, you will also want to insure that you are, in fact, dealing with a
PNG file. Libpng provides a simple check to see if a file is a PNG file. To use it, pass in the first 1
to 8 bytes of the file to the function png_sig_cmp(), and it will return 0 (false) if the bytes match the
corresponding bytes of the PNG signature, or nonzero (true) otherwise. Of course, the more bytes you
pass in, the greater the accuracy of the prediction.
If you are intending to keep the file pointer open for use in libpng, you must ensure you don't read more
than 8 bytes from the beginning of the file, and you also have to make a call to png_set_sig_bytes() with
the number of bytes you read from the beginning. Libpng will then only check the bytes (if any) that
your program didn't read.
(*): If you are not using the standard I/O functions, you will need to replace them with custom
functions. See the discussion under Customizing libpng.
FILE *fp = fopen(file_name, "rb");
if (!fp)
{
return (ERROR);
}
if (fread(header, 1, number, fp) != number)
{
return (ERROR);
}
is_png = !png_sig_cmp(header, 0, number);
if (!is_png)
{
return (NOT_PNG);
}
Next, png_struct and png_info need to be allocated and initialized. In order to ensure that the size of
these structures is correct even with a dynamically linked libpng, there are functions to initialize and
allocate the structures. We also pass the library version, optional pointers to error handling
functions, and a pointer to a data struct for use by the error functions, if necessary (the pointer and
functions can be NULL if the default error handlers are to be used). See the section on Changes to
Libpng below regarding the old initialization functions. The structure allocation functions quietly
return NULL if they fail to create the structure, so your application should check for that.
png_structp png_ptr = png_create_read_struct
(PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, (png_voidp)user_error_ptr,
user_error_fn, user_warning_fn);
if (!png_ptr)
return (ERROR);
png_infop info_ptr = png_create_info_struct(png_ptr);
if (!info_ptr)
{
png_destroy_read_struct(&png_ptr,
(png_infopp)NULL, (png_infopp)NULL);
return (ERROR);
}
If you want to use your own memory allocation routines, use a libpng that was built with
PNG_USER_MEM_SUPPORTED defined, and use png_create_read_struct_2() instead of png_create_read_struct():
png_structp png_ptr = png_create_read_struct_2
(PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, (png_voidp)user_error_ptr,
user_error_fn, user_warning_fn, (png_voidp)
user_mem_ptr, user_malloc_fn, user_free_fn);
The error handling routines passed to png_create_read_struct() and the memory alloc/free routines passed
to png_create_struct_2() are only necessary if you are not using the libpng supplied error handling and
memory alloc/free functions.
When libpng encounters an error, it expects to longjmp back to your routine. Therefore, you will need to
call setjmp and pass your png_jmpbuf(png_ptr). If you read the file from different routines, you will
need to update the longjmp buffer every time you enter a new routine that will call a png_*() function.
See your documentation of setjmp/longjmp for your compiler for more information on setjmp/longjmp. See
the discussion on libpng error handling in the Customizing Libpng section below for more information on
the libpng error handling. If an error occurs, and libpng longjmp's back to your setjmp, you will want
to call png_destroy_read_struct() to free any memory.
if (setjmp(png_jmpbuf(png_ptr)))
{
png_destroy_read_struct(&png_ptr, &info_ptr,
&end_info);
fclose(fp);
return (ERROR);
}
Pass (png_infopp)NULL instead of &end_info if you didn't create an end_info structure.
If you would rather avoid the complexity of setjmp/longjmp issues, you can compile libpng with
PNG_NO_SETJMP, in which case errors will result in a call to PNG_ABORT() which defaults to abort().
You can #define PNG_ABORT() to a function that does something more useful than abort(), as long as your
function does not return.
Now you need to set up the input code. The default for libpng is to use the C function fread(). If you
use this, you will need to pass a valid FILE * in the function png_init_io(). Be sure that the file is
opened in binary mode. If you wish to handle reading data in another way, you need not call the
png_init_io() function, but you must then implement the libpng I/O methods discussed in the Customizing
Libpng section below.
png_init_io(png_ptr, fp);
If you had previously opened the file and read any of the signature from the beginning in order to see if
this was a PNG file, you need to let libpng know that there are some bytes missing from the start of the
file.
png_set_sig_bytes(png_ptr, number);
You can change the zlib compression buffer size to be used while reading compressed data with
png_set_compression_buffer_size(png_ptr, buffer_size);
where the default size is 8192 bytes. Note that the buffer size is changed immediately and the buffer is
reallocated immediately, instead of setting a flag to be acted upon later.
If you want CRC errors to be handled in a different manner than the default, use
png_set_crc_action(png_ptr, crit_action, ancil_action);
The values for png_set_crc_action() say how libpng is to handle CRC errors in ancillary and critical
chunks, and whether to use the data contained therein. Note that it is impossible to "discard" data in a
critical chunk.
Choices for (int) crit_action are
PNG_CRC_DEFAULT 0 error/quit
PNG_CRC_ERROR_QUIT 1 error/quit
PNG_CRC_WARN_USE 3 warn/use data
PNG_CRC_QUIET_USE 4 quiet/use data
PNG_CRC_NO_CHANGE 5 use the current value
Choices for (int) ancil_action are
PNG_CRC_DEFAULT 0 error/quit
PNG_CRC_ERROR_QUIT 1 error/quit
PNG_CRC_WARN_DISCARD 2 warn/discard data
PNG_CRC_WARN_USE 3 warn/use data
PNG_CRC_QUIET_USE 4 quiet/use data
PNG_CRC_NO_CHANGE 5 use the current value
Setting up callback code
You can set up a callback function to handle any unknown chunks in the input stream. You must supply the
function
read_chunk_callback(png_structp png_ptr,
png_unknown_chunkp chunk);
{
/* The unknown chunk structure contains your
chunk data, along with similar data for any other
unknown chunks: */
png_byte name[5];
png_byte *data;
png_size_t size;
/* Note that libpng has already taken care of
the CRC handling */
/* put your code here. Search for your chunk in the
unknown chunk structure, process it, and return one
of the following: */
return (-n); /* chunk had an error */
return (0); /* did not recognize */
return (n); /* success */
}
(You can give your function another name that you like instead of "read_chunk_callback")
To inform libpng about your function, use
png_set_read_user_chunk_fn(png_ptr, user_chunk_ptr,
read_chunk_callback);
This names not only the callback function, but also a user pointer that you can retrieve with
png_get_user_chunk_ptr(png_ptr);
If you call the png_set_read_user_chunk_fn() function, then all unknown chunks which the callback does
not handle will be saved when read. You can cause them to be discarded by returning '1' ("handled")
instead of '0'. This behavior will change in libpng 1.7 and the default handling set by the
png_set_keep_unknown_chunks() function, described below, will be used when the callback returns 0. If
you want the existing behavior you should set the global default to PNG_HANDLE_CHUNK_IF_SAFE now; this is
compatible with all current versions of libpng and with 1.7. Libpng 1.6 issues a warning if you keep the
default, or PNG_HANDLE_CHUNK_NEVER, and the callback returns 0.
At this point, you can set up a callback function that will be called after each row has been read, which
you can use to control a progress meter or the like. It's demonstrated in pngtest.c. You must supply a
function
void read_row_callback(png_structp png_ptr,
png_uint_32 row, int pass);
{
/* put your code here */
}
(You can give it another name that you like instead of "read_row_callback")
To inform libpng about your function, use
png_set_read_status_fn(png_ptr, read_row_callback);
When this function is called the row has already been completely processed and the 'row' and 'pass' refer
to the next row to be handled. For the non-interlaced case the row that was just handled is simply one
less than the passed in row number, and pass will always be 0. For the interlaced case the same applies
unless the row value is 0, in which case the row just handled was the last one from one of the preceding
passes. Because interlacing may skip a pass you cannot be sure that the preceding pass is just 'pass-1',
if you really need to know what the last pass is record (row,pass) from the callback and use the last
recorded value each time.
As with the user transform you can find the output row using the PNG_ROW_FROM_PASS_ROW macro.
Unknown-chunk handling
Now you get to set the way the library processes unknown chunks in the input PNG stream. Both known and
unknown chunks will be read. Normal behavior is that known chunks will be parsed into information in
various info_ptr members while unknown chunks will be discarded. This behavior can be wasteful if your
application will never use some known chunk types. To change this, you can call:
png_set_keep_unknown_chunks(png_ptr, keep,
chunk_list, num_chunks);
keep - 0: default unknown chunk handling
1: ignore; do not keep
2: keep only if safe-to-copy
3: keep even if unsafe-to-copy
You can use these definitions:
PNG_HANDLE_CHUNK_AS_DEFAULT 0
PNG_HANDLE_CHUNK_NEVER 1
PNG_HANDLE_CHUNK_IF_SAFE 2
PNG_HANDLE_CHUNK_ALWAYS 3
chunk_list - list of chunks affected (a byte string,
five bytes per chunk, NULL or ' ' if
num_chunks is positive; ignored if
numchunks <= 0).
num_chunks - number of chunks affected; if 0, all
unknown chunks are affected. If positive,
only the chunks in the list are affected,
and if negative all unknown chunks and
all known chunks except for the IHDR,
PLTE, tRNS, IDAT, and IEND chunks are
affected.
Unknown chunks declared in this way will be saved as raw data onto a list of png_unknown_chunk
structures. If a chunk that is normally known to libpng is named in the list, it will be handled as
unknown, according to the "keep" directive. If a chunk is named in successive instances of
png_set_keep_unknown_chunks(), the final instance will take precedence. The IHDR and IEND chunks should
not be named in chunk_list; if they are, libpng will process them normally anyway. If you know that your
application will never make use of some particular chunks, use PNG_HANDLE_CHUNK_NEVER (or 1) as
demonstrated below.
Here is an example of the usage of png_set_keep_unknown_chunks(), where the private "vpAg" chunk will
later be processed by a user chunk callback function:
png_byte vpAg[5]={118, 112, 65, 103, (png_byte) ' '};
#if defined(PNG_UNKNOWN_CHUNKS_SUPPORTED)
png_byte unused_chunks[]=
{
104, 73, 83, 84, (png_byte) ' ', /* hIST */
105, 84, 88, 116, (png_byte) ' ', /* iTXt */
112, 67, 65, 76, (png_byte) ' ', /* pCAL */
115, 67, 65, 76, (png_byte) ' ', /* sCAL */
115, 80, 76, 84, (png_byte) ' ', /* sPLT */
116, 73, 77, 69, (png_byte) ' ', /* tIME */
};
#endif
...
#if defined(PNG_UNKNOWN_CHUNKS_SUPPORTED)
/* ignore all unknown chunks
* (use global setting "2" for libpng16 and earlier):
*/
png_set_keep_unknown_chunks(read_ptr, 2, NULL, 0);
/* except for vpAg: */
png_set_keep_unknown_chunks(read_ptr, 2, vpAg, 1);
/* also ignore unused known chunks: */
png_set_keep_unknown_chunks(read_ptr, 1, unused_chunks,
(int)(sizeof unused_chunks)/5);
#endif
User limits
The PNG specification allows the width and height of an image to be as large as 2^(31-1 (0x7fffffff), or
about 2.147 billion rows and columns. For safety, libpng imposes a default limit of 1 million rows and
columns. Larger images will be rejected immediately with a png_error() call. If you wish to change these
limits, you can use
png_set_user_limits(png_ptr, width_max, height_max);
to set your own limits (libpng may reject some very wide images anyway because of potential buffer
overflow conditions).
You should put this statement after you create the PNG structure and before calling png_read_info(),
png_read_png(), or png_process_data().
When writing a PNG datastream, put this statement before calling png_write_info() or png_write_png().
If you need to retrieve the limits that are being applied, use
width_max = png_get_user_width_max(png_ptr);
height_max = png_get_user_height_max(png_ptr);
The PNG specification sets no limit on the number of ancillary chunks allowed in a PNG datastream. By
default, libpng imposes a limit of a total of 1000 sPLT, tEXt, iTXt, zTXt, and unknown chunks to be
stored. If you have set up both info_ptr and end_info_ptr, the limit applies separately to each. You
can change the limit on the total number of such chunks that will be stored, with
png_set_chunk_cache_max(png_ptr, user_chunk_cache_max);
where 0x7fffffffL means unlimited. You can retrieve this limit with
chunk_cache_max = png_get_chunk_cache_max(png_ptr);
Libpng imposes a limit of 8 Megabytes (8,000,000 bytes) on the amount of memory that a compressed chunk
other than IDAT can occupy, when decompressed. You can change this limit with
png_set_chunk_malloc_max(png_ptr, user_chunk_malloc_max);
and you can retrieve the limit with
chunk_malloc_max = png_get_chunk_malloc_max(png_ptr);
Any chunks that would cause either of these limits to be exceeded will be ignored.
Information about your system
If you intend to display the PNG or to incorporate it in other image data you need to tell libpng
information about your display or drawing surface so that libpng can convert the values in the image to
match the display.
From libpng-1.5.4 this information can be set before reading the PNG file header. In earlier versions
png_set_gamma() existed but behaved incorrectly if called before the PNG file header had been read and
png_set_alpha_mode() did not exist.
If you need to support versions prior to libpng-1.5.4 test the version number as illustrated below using
"PNG_LIBPNG_VER >= 10504" and follow the procedures described in the appropriate manual page.
You give libpng the encoding expected by your system expressed as a 'gamma' value. You can also specify
a default encoding for the PNG file in case the required information is missing from the file. By
default libpng assumes that the PNG data matches your system, to keep this default call:
png_set_gamma(png_ptr, screen_gamma, output_gamma);
or you can use the fixed point equivalent:
png_set_gamma_fixed(png_ptr, PNG_FP_1*screen_gamma,
PNG_FP_1*output_gamma);
If you don't know the gamma for your system it is probably 2.2 - a good approximation to the IEC standard
for display systems (sRGB). If images are too contrasty or washed out you got the value wrong - check
your system documentation!
Many systems permit the system gamma to be changed via a lookup table in the display driver, a few
systems, including older Macs, change the response by default. As of 1.5.4 three special values are
available to handle common situations:
PNG_DEFAULT_sRGB: Indicates that the system conforms to the
IEC 61966-2-1 standard. This matches almost
all systems.
PNG_GAMMA_MAC_18: Indicates that the system is an older
(pre Mac OS 10.6) Apple Macintosh system with
the default settings.
PNG_GAMMA_LINEAR: Just the fixed point value for 1.0 - indicates
that the system expects data with no gamma
encoding.
You would use the linear (unencoded) value if you need to process the pixel values further because this
avoids the need to decode and re-encode each component value whenever arithmetic is performed. A lot of
graphics software uses linear values for this reason, often with higher precision component values to
preserve overall accuracy.
The output_gamma value expresses how to decode the output values, not how they are encoded. The values
used correspond to the normal numbers used to describe the overall gamma of a computer display system;
for example 2.2 for an sRGB conformant system. The values are scaled by 100000 in the _fixed version of
the API (so 220000 for sRGB.)
The inverse of the value is always used to provide a default for the PNG file encoding if it has no gAMA
chunk and if png_set_gamma() has not been called to override the PNG gamma information.
When the ALPHA_OPTIMIZED mode is selected the output gamma is used to encode opaque pixels however pixels
with lower alpha values are not encoded, regardless of the output gamma setting.
When the standard Porter Duff handling is requested with mode 1 the output encoding is set to be linear
and the output_gamma value is only relevant as a default for input data that has no gamma information.
The linear output encoding will be overridden if png_set_gamma() is called - the results may be highly
unexpected!
The following numbers are derived from the sRGB standard and the research behind it. sRGB is defined to
be approximated by a PNG gAMA chunk value of 0.45455 (1/2.2) for PNG. The value implicitly includes any
viewing correction required to take account of any differences in the color environment of the original
scene and the intended display environment; the value expresses how to *decode* the image for display,
not how the original data was *encoded*.
sRGB provides a peg for the PNG standard by defining a viewing environment. sRGB itself, and earlier TV
standards, actually use a more complex transform (a linear portion then a gamma 2.4 power law) than PNG
can express. (PNG is limited to simple power laws.) By saying that an image for direct display on an
sRGB conformant system should be stored with a gAMA chunk value of 45455 (11.3.3.2 and 11.3.3.5 of the
ISO PNG specification) the PNG specification makes it possible to derive values for other display systems
and environments.
The Mac value is deduced from the sRGB based on an assumption that the actual extra viewing correction
used in early Mac display systems was implemented as a power 1.45 lookup table.
Any system where a programmable lookup table is used or where the behavior of the final display device
characteristics can be changed requires system specific code to obtain the current characteristic.
However this can be difficult and most PNG gamma correction only requires an approximate value.
By default, if png_set_alpha_mode() is not called, libpng assumes that all values are unencoded, linear,
values and that the output device also has a linear characteristic. This is only very rarely correct -
it is invariably better to call png_set_alpha_mode() with PNG_DEFAULT_sRGB than rely on the default if
you don't know what the right answer is!
The special value PNG_GAMMA_MAC_18 indicates an older Mac system (pre Mac OS 10.6) which used a
correction table to implement a somewhat lower gamma on an otherwise sRGB system.
Both these values are reserved (not simple gamma values) in order to allow more precise correction
internally in the future.
NOTE: the values can be passed to either the fixed or floating point APIs, but the floating point API
will also accept floating point values.
The second thing you may need to tell libpng about is how your system handles alpha channel information.
Some, but not all, PNG files contain an alpha channel. To display these files correctly you need to
compose the data onto a suitable background, as described in the PNG specification.
Libpng only supports composing onto a single color (using png_set_background; see below). Otherwise you
must do the composition yourself and, in this case, you may need to call png_set_alpha_mode:
#if PNG_LIBPNG_VER >= 10504
png_set_alpha_mode(png_ptr, mode, screen_gamma);
#else
png_set_gamma(png_ptr, screen_gamma, 1.0/screen_gamma);
#endif
The screen_gamma value is the same as the argument to png_set_gamma; however, how it affects the output
depends on the mode. png_set_alpha_mode() sets the file gamma default to 1/screen_gamma, so normally you
don't need to call png_set_gamma. If you need different defaults call png_set_gamma() before
png_set_alpha_mode() - if you call it after it will override the settings made by png_set_alpha_mode().
The mode is as follows:
PNG_ALPHA_PNG: The data is encoded according to the PNG specification. Red, green and blue, or gray,
components are gamma encoded color values and are not premultiplied by the alpha value. The alpha value
is a linear measure of the contribution of the pixel to the corresponding final output pixel.
You should normally use this format if you intend to perform color correction on the color values; most,
maybe all, color correction software has no handling for the alpha channel and, anyway, the math to
handle pre-multiplied component values is unnecessarily complex.
Before you do any arithmetic on the component values you need to remove the gamma encoding and multiply
out the alpha channel. See the PNG specification for more detail. It is important to note that when an
image with an alpha channel is scaled, linear encoded, pre-multiplied component values must be used!
The remaining modes assume you don't need to do any further color correction or that if you do, your
color correction software knows all about alpha (it probably doesn't!). They 'associate' the alpha with
the color information by storing color channel values that have been scaled by the alpha. The advantage
is that the color channels can be resampled (the image can be scaled) in this form. The disadvantage is
that normal practice is to store linear, not (gamma) encoded, values and this requires 16-bit channels
for still images rather than the 8-bit channels that are just about sufficient if gamma encoding is used.
In addition all non-transparent pixel values, including completely opaque ones, must be gamma encoded to
produce the final image. These are the 'STANDARD', 'ASSOCIATED' or 'PREMULTIPLIED' modes described below
(the latter being the two common names for associated alpha color channels). Note that PNG files always
contain non-associated color channels; png_set_alpha_mode() with one of the modes causes the decoder to
convert the pixels to an associated form before returning them to your application.
Since it is not necessary to perform arithmetic on opaque color values so long as they are not to be
resampled and are in the final color space it is possible to optimize the handling of alpha by storing
the opaque pixels in the PNG format (adjusted for the output color space) while storing partially opaque
pixels in the standard, linear, format. The accuracy required for standard alpha composition is
relatively low, because the pixels are isolated, therefore typically the accuracy loss in storing 8-bit
linear values is acceptable. (This is not true if the alpha channel is used to simulate transparency
over large areas - use 16 bits or the PNG mode in this case!) This is the 'OPTIMIZED' mode. For this
mode a pixel is treated as opaque only if the alpha value is equal to the maximum value.
PNG_ALPHA_STANDARD: The data libpng produces is encoded in the standard way assumed by most
correctly written graphics software. The gamma encoding will be removed by libpng and the linear
component values will be pre-multiplied by the alpha channel.
With this format the final image must be re-encoded to match the display gamma before the image is
displayed. If your system doesn't do that, yet still seems to perform arithmetic on the pixels without
decoding them, it is broken - check out the modes below.
With PNG_ALPHA_STANDARD libpng always produces linear component values, whatever screen_gamma you supply.
The screen_gamma value is, however, used as a default for the file gamma if the PNG file has no gamma
information.
If you call png_set_gamma() after png_set_alpha_mode() you will override the linear encoding. Instead
the pre-multiplied pixel values will be gamma encoded but the alpha channel will still be linear. This
may actually match the requirements of some broken software, but it is unlikely.
While linear 8-bit data is often used it has insufficient precision for any image with a reasonable
dynamic range. To avoid problems, and if your software supports it, use png_set_expand_16() to force all
components to 16 bits.
PNG_ALPHA_OPTIMIZED: This mode is the same as PNG_ALPHA_STANDARD except that completely opaque pixels
are gamma encoded according to the screen_gamma value. Pixels with alpha less than 1.0 will still have
linear components.
Use this format if you have control over your compositing software and so don't do other arithmetic (such
as scaling) on the data you get from libpng. Your compositing software can simply copy opaque pixels to
the output but still has linear values for the non-opaque pixels.
In normal compositing, where the alpha channel encodes partial pixel coverage (as opposed to broad area
translucency), the inaccuracies of the 8-bit representation of non-opaque pixels are irrelevant.
You can also try this format if your software is broken; it might look better.
PNG_ALPHA_BROKEN: This is PNG_ALPHA_STANDARD; however, all component values, including the alpha
channel are gamma encoded. This is broken because, in practice, no implementation that uses this choice
correctly undoes the encoding before handling alpha composition. Use this choice only if other serious
errors in the software or hardware you use mandate it. In most cases of broken software or hardware the
bug in the final display manifests as a subtle halo around composited parts of the image. You may not
even perceive this as a halo; the composited part of the image may simply appear separate from the
background, as though it had been cut out of paper and pasted on afterward.
If you don't have to deal with bugs in software or hardware, or if you can fix them, there are three
recommended ways of using png_set_alpha_mode():
png_set_alpha_mode(png_ptr, PNG_ALPHA_PNG,
screen_gamma);
You can do color correction on the result (libpng does not currently support color correction
internally). When you handle the alpha channel you need to undo the gamma encoding and multiply out the
alpha.
png_set_alpha_mode(png_ptr, PNG_ALPHA_STANDARD,
screen_gamma);
png_set_expand_16(png_ptr);
If you are using the high level interface, don't call png_set_expand_16(); instead pass
PNG_TRANSFORM_EXPAND_16 to the interface.
With this mode you can't do color correction, but you can do arithmetic, including composition and
scaling, on the data without further processing.
png_set_alpha_mode(png_ptr, PNG_ALPHA_OPTIMIZED,
screen_gamma);
You can avoid the expansion to 16-bit components with this mode, but you lose the ability to scale the
image or perform other linear arithmetic. All you can do is compose the result onto a matching output.
Since this mode is libpng-specific you also need to write your own composition software.
The following are examples of calls to png_set_alpha_mode to achieve the required overall gamma
correction and, where necessary, alpha premultiplication.
png_set_alpha_mode(pp, PNG_ALPHA_PNG, PNG_DEFAULT_sRGB);
This is the default libpng handling of the alpha channel - it is not pre-multiplied into the color
components. In addition the call states that the output is for a sRGB system and causes all PNG files
without gAMA chunks to be assumed to be encoded using sRGB.
png_set_alpha_mode(pp, PNG_ALPHA_PNG, PNG_GAMMA_MAC);
In this case the output is assumed to be something like an sRGB conformant display preceeded by a power-
law lookup table of power 1.45. This is how early Mac systems behaved.
png_set_alpha_mode(pp, PNG_ALPHA_STANDARD, PNG_GAMMA_LINEAR);
This is the classic Jim Blinn approach and will work in academic environments where everything is done by
the book. It has the shortcoming of assuming that input PNG data with no gamma information is linear -
this is unlikely to be correct unless the PNG files where generated locally. Most of the time the output
precision will be so low as to show significant banding in dark areas of the image.
png_set_expand_16(pp);
png_set_alpha_mode(pp, PNG_ALPHA_STANDARD, PNG_DEFAULT_sRGB);
This is a somewhat more realistic Jim Blinn inspired approach. PNG files are assumed to have the sRGB
encoding if not marked with a gamma value and the output is always 16 bits per component. This permits
accurate scaling and processing of the data. If you know that your input PNG files were generated
locally you might need to replace PNG_DEFAULT_sRGB with the correct value for your system.
png_set_alpha_mode(pp, PNG_ALPHA_OPTIMIZED, PNG_DEFAULT_sRGB);
If you just need to composite the PNG image onto an existing background and if you control the code that
does this you can use the optimization setting. In this case you just copy completely opaque pixels to
the output. For pixels that are not completely transparent (you just skip those) you do the composition
math using png_composite or png_composite_16 below then encode the resultant 8-bit or 16-bit values to
match the output encoding.
Other cases
If neither the PNG nor the standard linear encoding work for you because of the software or hardware you
use then you have a big problem. The PNG case will probably result in halos around the image. The
linear encoding will probably result in a washed out, too bright, image (it's actually too contrasty.)
Try the ALPHA_OPTIMIZED mode above - this will probably substantially reduce the halos. Alternatively
try:
png_set_alpha_mode(pp, PNG_ALPHA_BROKEN, PNG_DEFAULT_sRGB);
This option will also reduce the halos, but there will be slight dark halos round the opaque parts of the
image where the background is light. In the OPTIMIZED mode the halos will be light halos where the
background is dark. Take your pick - the halos are unavoidable unless you can get your hardware/software
fixed! (The OPTIMIZED approach is slightly faster.)
When the default gamma of PNG files doesn't match the output gamma. If you have PNG files with no gamma
information png_set_alpha_mode allows you to provide a default gamma, but it also sets the ouput gamma to
the matching value. If you know your PNG files have a gamma that doesn't match the output you can take
advantage of the fact that png_set_alpha_mode always sets the output gamma but only sets the PNG default
if it is not already set:
png_set_alpha_mode(pp, PNG_ALPHA_PNG, PNG_DEFAULT_sRGB);
png_set_alpha_mode(pp, PNG_ALPHA_PNG, PNG_GAMMA_MAC);
The first call sets both the default and the output gamma values, the second call overrides the output
gamma without changing the default. This is easier than achieving the same effect with png_set_gamma.
You must use PNG_ALPHA_PNG for the first call - internal checking in png_set_alpha will fire if more than
one call to png_set_alpha_mode and png_set_background is made in the same read operation, however
multiple calls with PNG_ALPHA_PNG are ignored.
If you don't need, or can't handle, the alpha channel you can call png_set_background() to remove it by
compositing against a fixed color. Don't call png_set_strip_alpha() to do this - it will leave spurious
pixel values in transparent parts of this image.
png_set_background(png_ptr, &background_color,
PNG_BACKGROUND_GAMMA_SCREEN, 0, 1);
The background_color is an RGB or grayscale value according to the data format libpng will produce for
you. Because you don't yet know the format of the PNG file, if you call png_set_background at this point
you must arrange for the format produced by libpng to always have 8-bit or 16-bit components and then
store the color as an 8-bit or 16-bit color as appropriate. The color contains separate gray and RGB
component values, so you can let libpng produce gray or RGB output according to the input format, but low
bit depth grayscale images must always be converted to at least 8-bit format. (Even though low bit depth
grayscale images can't have an alpha channel they can have a transparent color!)
You set the transforms you need later, either as flags to the high level interface or libpng API calls
for the low level interface. For reference the settings and API calls required are:
8-bit values:
PNG_TRANSFORM_SCALE_16 | PNG_EXPAND
png_set_expand(png_ptr); png_set_scale_16(png_ptr);
If you must get exactly the same inaccurate results
produced by default in versions prior to libpng-1.5.4,
use PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_16 and png_set_strip_16(png_ptr)
instead.
16-bit values:
PNG_TRANSFORM_EXPAND_16
png_set_expand_16(png_ptr);
In either case palette image data will be expanded to RGB. If you just want color data you can add
PNG_TRANSFORM_GRAY_TO_RGB or png_set_gray_to_rgb(png_ptr) to the list.
Calling png_set_background before the PNG file header is read will not work prior to libpng-1.5.4.
Because the failure may result in unexpected warnings or errors it is therefore much safer to call
png_set_background after the head has been read. Unfortunately this means that prior to libpng-1.5.4 it
cannot be used with the high level interface.
The high-level read interface
At this point there are two ways to proceed; through the high-level read interface, or through a sequence
of low-level read operations. You can use the high-level interface if (a) you are willing to read the
entire image into memory, and (b) the input transformations you want to do are limited to the following
set:
PNG_TRANSFORM_IDENTITY No transformation
PNG_TRANSFORM_SCALE_16 Strip 16-bit samples to
8-bit accurately
PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_16 Chop 16-bit samples to
8-bit less accurately
PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_ALPHA Discard the alpha channel
PNG_TRANSFORM_PACKING Expand 1, 2 and 4-bit
samples to bytes
PNG_TRANSFORM_PACKSWAP Change order of packed
pixels to LSB first
PNG_TRANSFORM_EXPAND Perform set_expand()
PNG_TRANSFORM_INVERT_MONO Invert monochrome images
PNG_TRANSFORM_SHIFT Normalize pixels to the
sBIT depth
PNG_TRANSFORM_BGR Flip RGB to BGR, RGBA
to BGRA
PNG_TRANSFORM_SWAP_ALPHA Flip RGBA to ARGB or GA
to AG
PNG_TRANSFORM_INVERT_ALPHA Change alpha from opacity
to transparency
PNG_TRANSFORM_SWAP_ENDIAN Byte-swap 16-bit samples
PNG_TRANSFORM_GRAY_TO_RGB Expand grayscale samples
to RGB (or GA to RGBA)
PNG_TRANSFORM_EXPAND_16 Expand samples to 16 bits
(This excludes setting a background color, doing gamma transformation, quantizing, and setting filler.)
If this is the case, simply do this:
png_read_png(png_ptr, info_ptr, png_transforms, NULL)
where png_transforms is an integer containing the bitwise OR of some set of transformation flags. This
call is equivalent to png_read_info(), followed the set of transformations indicated by the transform
mask, then png_read_image(), and finally png_read_end().
(The final parameter of this call is not yet used. Someday it might point to transformation parameters
required by some future input transform.)
You must use png_transforms and not call any png_set_transform() functions when you use png_read_png().
After you have called png_read_png(), you can retrieve the image data with
row_pointers = png_get_rows(png_ptr, info_ptr);
where row_pointers is an array of pointers to the pixel data for each row:
png_bytep row_pointers[height];
If you know your image size and pixel size ahead of time, you can allocate row_pointers prior to calling
png_read_png() with
if (height > PNG_UINT_32_MAX/(sizeof (png_byte)))
png_error (png_ptr,
"Image is too tall to process in memory");
if (width > PNG_UINT_32_MAX/pixel_size)
png_error (png_ptr,
"Image is too wide to process in memory");
row_pointers = png_malloc(png_ptr,
height*(sizeof (png_bytep)));
for (int i=0; i<height, i++)
row_pointers[i]=NULL; /* security precaution */
for (int i=0; i<height, i++)
row_pointers[i]=png_malloc(png_ptr,
width*pixel_size);
png_set_rows(png_ptr, info_ptr, &row_pointers);
Alternatively you could allocate your image in one big block and define row_pointers[i] to point into the
proper places in your block.
If you use png_set_rows(), the application is responsible for freeing row_pointers (and row_pointers[i],
if they were separately allocated).
If you don't allocate row_pointers ahead of time, png_read_png() will do it, and it'll be free'ed by
libpng when you call png_destroy_*().
The low-level read interface
If you are going the low-level route, you are now ready to read all the file information up to the actual
image data. You do this with a call to png_read_info().
png_read_info(png_ptr, info_ptr);
This will process all chunks up to but not including the image data.
This also copies some of the data from the PNG file into the decode structure for use in later
transformations. Important information copied in is:
1) The PNG file gamma from the gAMA chunk. This overwrites the default value provided by an earlier call
to png_set_gamma or png_set_alpha_mode.
2) Prior to libpng-1.5.4 the background color from a bKGd chunk. This damages the information provided
by an earlier call to png_set_background resulting in unexpected behavior. Libpng-1.5.4 no longer does
this.
3) The number of significant bits in each component value. Libpng uses this to optimize gamma handling
by reducing the internal lookup table sizes.
4) The transparent color information from a tRNS chunk. This can be modified by a later call to
png_set_tRNS.
Querying the info structure
Functions are used to get the information from the info_ptr once it has been read. Note that these
fields may not be completely filled in until png_read_end() has read the chunk data following the image.
png_get_IHDR(png_ptr, info_ptr, &width, &height,
&bit_depth, &color_type, &interlace_type,
&compression_type, &filter_method);
width - holds the width of the image
in pixels (up to 2^31).
height - holds the height of the image
in pixels (up to 2^31).
bit_depth - holds the bit depth of one of the
image channels. (valid values are
1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and depend also on
the color_type. See also
significant bits (sBIT) below).
color_type - describes which color/alpha channels
are present.
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY
(bit depths 1, 2, 4, 8, 16)
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY_ALPHA
(bit depths 8, 16)
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_PALETTE
(bit depths 1, 2, 4, 8)
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB
(bit_depths 8, 16)
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB_ALPHA
(bit_depths 8, 16)
PNG_COLOR_MASK_PALETTE
PNG_COLOR_MASK_COLOR
PNG_COLOR_MASK_ALPHA
interlace_type - (PNG_INTERLACE_NONE or
PNG_INTERLACE_ADAM7)
compression_type - (must be PNG_COMPRESSION_TYPE_BASE
for PNG 1.0)
filter_method - (must be PNG_FILTER_TYPE_BASE
for PNG 1.0, and can also be
PNG_INTRAPIXEL_DIFFERENCING if
the PNG datastream is embedded in
a MNG-1.0 datastream)
Any of width, height, color_type, bit_depth,
interlace_type, compression_type, or filter_method can
be NULL if you are not interested in their values.
Note that png_get_IHDR() returns 32-bit data into
the application's width and height variables.
This is an unsafe situation if these are not png_uint_32
variables. In such situations, the
png_get_image_width() and png_get_image_height()
functions described below are safer.
width = png_get_image_width(png_ptr,
info_ptr);
height = png_get_image_height(png_ptr,
info_ptr);
bit_depth = png_get_bit_depth(png_ptr,
info_ptr);
color_type = png_get_color_type(png_ptr,
info_ptr);
interlace_type = png_get_interlace_type(png_ptr,
info_ptr);
compression_type = png_get_compression_type(png_ptr,
info_ptr);
filter_method = png_get_filter_type(png_ptr,
info_ptr);
channels = png_get_channels(png_ptr, info_ptr);
channels - number of channels of info for the
color type (valid values are 1 (GRAY,
PALETTE), 2 (GRAY_ALPHA), 3 (RGB),
4 (RGB_ALPHA or RGB + filler byte))
rowbytes = png_get_rowbytes(png_ptr, info_ptr);
rowbytes - number of bytes needed to hold a row
signature = png_get_signature(png_ptr, info_ptr);
signature - holds the signature read from the
file (if any). The data is kept in
the same offset it would be if the
whole signature were read (i.e. if an
application had already read in 4
bytes of signature before starting
libpng, the remaining 4 bytes would
be in signature[4] through signature[7]
(see png_set_sig_bytes())).
These are also important, but their validity depends on whether the chunk has been read. The
png_get_valid(png_ptr, info_ptr, PNG_INFO_<chunk>) and png_get_<chunk>(png_ptr, info_ptr, ...) functions
return non-zero if the data has been read, or zero if it is missing. The parameters to the
png_get_<chunk> are set directly if they are simple data types, or a pointer into the info_ptr is
returned for any complex types.
The colorspace data from gAMA, cHRM, sRGB, iCCP, and sBIT chunks is simply returned to give the
application information about how the image was encoded. Libpng itself only does transformations using
the file gamma when combining semitransparent pixels with the background color, and, since libpng-1.6.0,
when converting between 8-bit sRGB and 16-bit linear pixels within the simplified API. Libpng also uses
the file gamma when converting RGB to gray, beginning with libpng-1.0.5, if the application calls
png_set_rgb_to_gray()).
png_get_PLTE(png_ptr, info_ptr, &palette,
&num_palette);
palette - the palette for the file
(array of png_color)
num_palette - number of entries in the palette
png_get_gAMA(png_ptr, info_ptr, &file_gamma);
png_get_gAMA_fixed(png_ptr, info_ptr, &int_file_gamma);
file_gamma - the gamma at which the file is
written (PNG_INFO_gAMA)
int_file_gamma - 100,000 times the gamma at which the
file is written
png_get_cHRM(png_ptr, info_ptr, &white_x, &white_y, &red_x,
&red_y, &green_x, &green_y, &blue_x, &blue_y)
png_get_cHRM_XYZ(png_ptr, info_ptr, &red_X, &red_Y, &red_Z,
&green_X, &green_Y, &green_Z, &blue_X, &blue_Y,
&blue_Z)
png_get_cHRM_fixed(png_ptr, info_ptr, &int_white_x,
&int_white_y, &int_red_x, &int_red_y,
&int_green_x, &int_green_y, &int_blue_x,
&int_blue_y)
png_get_cHRM_XYZ_fixed(png_ptr, info_ptr, &int_red_X, &int_red_Y,
&int_red_Z, &int_green_X, &int_green_Y,
&int_green_Z, &int_blue_X, &int_blue_Y,
&int_blue_Z)
{white,red,green,blue}_{x,y}
A color space encoding specified using the
chromaticities of the end points and the
white point. (PNG_INFO_cHRM)
{red,green,blue}_{X,Y,Z}
A color space encoding specified using the
encoding end points - the CIE tristimulus
specification of the intended color of the red,
green and blue channels in the PNG RGB data.
The white point is simply the sum of the three
end points. (PNG_INFO_cHRM)
png_get_sRGB(png_ptr, info_ptr, &srgb_intent);
srgb_intent - the rendering intent (PNG_INFO_sRGB)
The presence of the sRGB chunk
means that the pixel data is in the
sRGB color space. This chunk also
implies specific values of gAMA and
cHRM.
png_get_iCCP(png_ptr, info_ptr, &name,
&compression_type, &profile, &proflen);
name - The profile name.
compression_type - The compression type; always
PNG_COMPRESSION_TYPE_BASE for PNG 1.0.
You may give NULL to this argument to
ignore it.
profile - International Color Consortium color
profile data. May contain NULs.
proflen - length of profile data in bytes.
png_get_sBIT(png_ptr, info_ptr, &sig_bit);
sig_bit - the number of significant bits for
(PNG_INFO_sBIT) each of the gray,
red, green, and blue channels,
whichever are appropriate for the
given color type (png_color_16)
png_get_tRNS(png_ptr, info_ptr, &trans_alpha,
&num_trans, &trans_color);
trans_alpha - array of alpha (transparency)
entries for palette (PNG_INFO_tRNS)
num_trans - number of transparent entries
(PNG_INFO_tRNS)
trans_color - graylevel or color sample values of
the single transparent color for
non-paletted images (PNG_INFO_tRNS)
png_get_hIST(png_ptr, info_ptr, &hist);
(PNG_INFO_hIST)
hist - histogram of palette (array of
png_uint_16)
png_get_tIME(png_ptr, info_ptr, &mod_time);
mod_time - time image was last modified
(PNG_VALID_tIME)
png_get_bKGD(png_ptr, info_ptr, &background);
background - background color (of type
png_color_16p) (PNG_VALID_bKGD)
valid 16-bit red, green and blue
values, regardless of color_type
num_comments = png_get_text(png_ptr, info_ptr,
&text_ptr, &num_text);
num_comments - number of comments
text_ptr - array of png_text holding image
comments
text_ptr[i].compression - type of compression used
on "text" PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_NONE
PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_zTXt
PNG_ITXT_COMPRESSION_NONE
PNG_ITXT_COMPRESSION_zTXt
text_ptr[i].key - keyword for comment. Must contain
1-79 characters.
text_ptr[i].text - text comments for current
keyword. Can be empty.
text_ptr[i].text_length - length of text string,
after decompression, 0 for iTXt
text_ptr[i].itxt_length - length of itxt string,
after decompression, 0 for tEXt/zTXt
text_ptr[i].lang - language of comment (empty
string for unknown).
text_ptr[i].lang_key - keyword in UTF-8
(empty string for unknown).
Note that the itxt_length, lang, and lang_key
members of the text_ptr structure only exist when the
library is built with iTXt chunk support. Prior to
libpng-1.4.0 the library was built by default without
iTXt support. Also note that when iTXt is supported,
they contain NULL pointers when the "compression"
field contains PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_NONE or
PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_zTXt.
num_text - number of comments (same as
num_comments; you can put NULL here
to avoid the duplication)
Note while png_set_text() will accept text, language,
and translated keywords that can be NULL pointers, the
structure returned by png_get_text will always contain
regular zero-terminated C strings. They might be
empty strings but they will never be NULL pointers.
num_spalettes = png_get_sPLT(png_ptr, info_ptr,
&palette_ptr);
num_spalettes - number of sPLT chunks read.
palette_ptr - array of palette structures holding
contents of one or more sPLT chunks
read.
png_get_oFFs(png_ptr, info_ptr, &offset_x, &offset_y,
&unit_type);
offset_x - positive offset from the left edge
of the screen (can be negative)
offset_y - positive offset from the top edge
of the screen (can be negative)
unit_type - PNG_OFFSET_PIXEL, PNG_OFFSET_MICROMETER
png_get_pHYs(png_ptr, info_ptr, &res_x, &res_y,
&unit_type);
res_x - pixels/unit physical resolution in
x direction
res_y - pixels/unit physical resolution in
x direction
unit_type - PNG_RESOLUTION_UNKNOWN,
PNG_RESOLUTION_METER
png_get_sCAL(png_ptr, info_ptr, &unit, &width,
&height)
unit - physical scale units (an integer)
width - width of a pixel in physical scale units
height - height of a pixel in physical scale units
(width and height are doubles)
png_get_sCAL_s(png_ptr, info_ptr, &unit, &width,
&height)
unit - physical scale units (an integer)
width - width of a pixel in physical scale units
(expressed as a string)
height - height of a pixel in physical scale units
(width and height are strings like "2.54")
num_unknown_chunks = png_get_unknown_chunks(png_ptr,
info_ptr, &unknowns)
unknowns - array of png_unknown_chunk
structures holding unknown chunks
unknowns[i].name - name of unknown chunk
unknowns[i].data - data of unknown chunk
unknowns[i].size - size of unknown chunk's data
unknowns[i].location - position of chunk in file
The value of "i" corresponds to the order in which the
chunks were read from the PNG file or inserted with the
png_set_unknown_chunks() function.
The value of "location" is a bitwise "or" of
PNG_HAVE_IHDR (0x01)
PNG_HAVE_PLTE (0x02)
PNG_AFTER_IDAT (0x08)
The data from the pHYs chunk can be retrieved in several convenient forms:
res_x = png_get_x_pixels_per_meter(png_ptr,
info_ptr)
res_y = png_get_y_pixels_per_meter(png_ptr,
info_ptr)
res_x_and_y = png_get_pixels_per_meter(png_ptr,
info_ptr)
res_x = png_get_x_pixels_per_inch(png_ptr,
info_ptr)
res_y = png_get_y_pixels_per_inch(png_ptr,
info_ptr)
res_x_and_y = png_get_pixels_per_inch(png_ptr,
info_ptr)
aspect_ratio = png_get_pixel_aspect_ratio(png_ptr,
info_ptr)
Each of these returns 0 [signifying "unknown"] if
the data is not present or if res_x is 0;
res_x_and_y is 0 if res_x != res_y
Note that because of the way the resolutions are
stored internally, the inch conversions won't
come out to exactly even number. For example,
72 dpi is stored as 0.28346 pixels/meter, and
when this is retrieved it is 71.9988 dpi, so
be sure to round the returned value appropriately
if you want to display a reasonable-looking result.
The data from the oFFs chunk can be retrieved in several convenient forms:
x_offset = png_get_x_offset_microns(png_ptr, info_ptr);
y_offset = png_get_y_offset_microns(png_ptr, info_ptr);
x_offset = png_get_x_offset_inches(png_ptr, info_ptr);
y_offset = png_get_y_offset_inches(png_ptr, info_ptr);
Each of these returns 0 [signifying "unknown" if both
x and y are 0] if the data is not present or if the
chunk is present but the unit is the pixel. The
remark about inexact inch conversions applies here
as well, because a value in inches can't always be
converted to microns and back without some loss
of precision.
For more information, see the PNG specification for chunk contents. Be careful with trusting rowbytes,
as some of the transformations could increase the space needed to hold a row (expand, filler,
gray_to_rgb, etc.). See png_read_update_info(), below.
A quick word about text_ptr and num_text. PNG stores comments in keyword/text pairs, one pair per chunk,
with no limit on the number of text chunks, and a 2^31 byte limit on their size. While there are
suggested keywords, there is no requirement to restrict the use to these strings. It is strongly
suggested that keywords and text be sensible to humans (that's the point), so don't use abbreviations.
Non-printing symbols are not allowed. See the PNG specification for more details. There is also no
requirement to have text after the keyword.
Keywords should be limited to 79 Latin-1 characters without leading or trailing spaces, but non-
consecutive spaces are allowed within the keyword. It is possible to have the same keyword any number of
times. The text_ptr is an array of png_text structures, each holding a pointer to a language string, a
pointer to a keyword and a pointer to a text string. The text string, language code, and translated
keyword may be empty or NULL pointers. The keyword/text pairs are put into the array in the order that
they are received. However, some or all of the text chunks may be after the image, so, to make sure you
have read all the text chunks, don't mess with these until after you read the stuff after the image.
This will be mentioned again below in the discussion that goes with png_read_end().
Input transformations
After you've read the header information, you can set up the library to handle any special
transformations of the image data. The various ways to transform the data will be described in the order
that they should occur. This is important, as some of these change the color type and/or bit depth of
the data, and some others only work on certain color types and bit depths.
Transformations you request are ignored if they don't have any meaning for a particular input data
format. However some transformations can have an effect as a result of a previous transformation. If
you specify a contradictory set of transformations, for example both adding and removing the alpha
channel, you cannot predict the final result.
The color used for the transparency values should be supplied in the same format/depth as the current
image data. It is stored in the same format/depth as the image data in a tRNS chunk, so this is what
libpng expects for this data.
The color used for the background value depends on the need_expand argument as described below.
Data will be decoded into the supplied row buffers packed into bytes unless the library has been told to
transform it into another format. For example, 4 bit/pixel paletted or grayscale data will be returned 2
pixels/byte with the leftmost pixel in the high-order bits of the byte, unless png_set_packing() is
called. 8-bit RGB data will be stored in RGB RGB RGB format unless png_set_filler() or
png_set_add_alpha() is called to insert filler bytes, either before or after each RGB triplet.
16-bit RGB data will be returned RRGGBB RRGGBB, with the most significant byte of the color value first,
unless png_set_scale_16() is called to transform it to regular RGB RGB triplets, or png_set_filler() or
png_set_add alpha() is called to insert two filler bytes, either before or after each RRGGBB triplet.
Similarly, 8-bit or 16-bit grayscale data can be modified with png_set_filler(), png_set_add_alpha(),
png_set_strip_16(), or png_set_scale_16().
The following code transforms grayscale images of less than 8 to 8 bits, changes paletted images to RGB,
and adds a full alpha channel if there is transparency information in a tRNS chunk. This is most useful
on grayscale images with bit depths of 2 or 4 or if there is a multiple-image viewing application that
wishes to treat all images in the same way.
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_PALETTE)
png_set_palette_to_rgb(png_ptr);
if (png_get_valid(png_ptr, info_ptr,
PNG_INFO_tRNS)) png_set_tRNS_to_alpha(png_ptr);
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY &&
bit_depth < 8) png_set_expand_gray_1_2_4_to_8(png_ptr);
The first two functions are actually aliases for png_set_expand(), added in libpng version 1.0.4, with
the function names expanded to improve code readability. In some future version they may actually do
different things.
As of libpng version 1.2.9, png_set_expand_gray_1_2_4_to_8() was added. It expands the sample depth
without changing tRNS to alpha.
As of libpng version 1.5.2, png_set_expand_16() was added. It behaves as png_set_expand(); however, the
resultant channels have 16 bits rather than 8. Use this when the output color or gray channels are made
linear to avoid fairly severe accuracy loss.
if (bit_depth < 16)
png_set_expand_16(png_ptr);
PNG can have files with 16 bits per channel. If you only can handle 8 bits per channel, this will strip
the pixels down to 8-bit.
if (bit_depth == 16) #if PNG_LIBPNG_VER >= 10504
png_set_scale_16(png_ptr); #else
png_set_strip_16(png_ptr); #endif
(The more accurate "png_set_scale_16()" API became available in libpng version 1.5.4).
If you need to process the alpha channel on the image separately from the image data (for example if you
convert it to a bitmap mask) it is possible to have libpng strip the channel leaving just RGB or gray
data:
if (color_type & PNG_COLOR_MASK_ALPHA)
png_set_strip_alpha(png_ptr);
If you strip the alpha channel you need to find some other way of dealing with the information. If,
instead, you want to convert the image to an opaque version with no alpha channel use png_set_background;
see below.
As of libpng version 1.5.2, almost all useful expansions are supported, the major ommissions are
conversion of grayscale to indexed images (which can be done trivially in the application) and conversion
of indexed to grayscale (which can be done by a trivial manipulation of the palette.)
In the following table, the 01 means grayscale with depth<8, 31 means indexed with depth<8, other
numerals represent the color type, "T" means the tRNS chunk is present, A means an alpha channel is
present, and O means tRNS or alpha is present but all pixels in the image are opaque.
FROM 01 31 0 0T 0O 2 2T 2O 3 3T 3O 4A 4O 6A 6O
TO
01 - [G] - - - - - - - - - - - - -
31 [Q] Q [Q] [Q] [Q] Q Q Q Q Q Q [Q] [Q] Q Q
0 1 G + . . G G G G G G B B GB GB
0T lt Gt t + . Gt G G Gt G G Bt Bt GBt GBt
0O lt Gt t . + Gt Gt G Gt Gt G Bt Bt GBt GBt
2 C P C C C + . . C - - CB CB B B
2T Ct - Ct C C t + t - - - CBt CBt Bt Bt
2O Ct - Ct C C t t + - - - CBt CBt Bt Bt
3 [Q] p [Q] [Q] [Q] Q Q Q + . . [Q] [Q] Q Q
3T [Qt] p [Qt][Q] [Q] Qt Qt Qt t + t [Qt][Qt] Qt Qt
3O [Qt] p [Qt][Q] [Q] Qt Qt Qt t t + [Qt][Qt] Qt Qt
4A lA G A T T GA GT GT GA GT GT + BA G GBA
4O lA GBA A T T GA GT GT GA GT GT BA + GBA G
6A CA PA CA C C A T tT PA P P C CBA + BA
6O CA PBA CA C C A tT T PA P P CBA C BA +
Within the matrix,
"+" identifies entries where 'from' and 'to' are the same.
"-" means the transformation is not supported.
"." means nothing is necessary (a tRNS chunk can just be ignored).
"t" means the transformation is obtained by png_set_tRNS.
"A" means the transformation is obtained by png_set_add_alpha().
"X" means the transformation is obtained by png_set_expand().
"1" means the transformation is obtained by
png_set_expand_gray_1_2_4_to_8() (and by png_set_expand()
if there is no transparency in the original or the final
format).
"C" means the transformation is obtained by png_set_gray_to_rgb().
"G" means the transformation is obtained by png_set_rgb_to_gray().
"P" means the transformation is obtained by
png_set_expand_palette_to_rgb().
"p" means the transformation is obtained by png_set_packing().
"Q" means the transformation is obtained by png_set_quantize().
"T" means the transformation is obtained by
png_set_tRNS_to_alpha().
"B" means the transformation is obtained by
png_set_background(), or png_strip_alpha().
When an entry has multiple transforms listed all are required to cause the right overall transformation.
When two transforms are separated by a comma either will do the job. When transforms are enclosed in []
the transform should do the job but this is currently unimplemented - a different format will result if
the suggested transformations are used.
In PNG files, the alpha channel in an image is the level of opacity. If you need the alpha channel in an
image to be the level of transparency instead of opacity, you can invert the alpha channel (or the tRNS
chunk data) after it's read, so that 0 is fully opaque and 255 (in 8-bit or paletted images) or 65535 (in
16-bit images) is fully transparent, with
png_set_invert_alpha(png_ptr);
PNG files pack pixels of bit depths 1, 2, and 4 into bytes as small as they can, resulting in, for
example, 8 pixels per byte for 1 bit files. This code expands to 1 pixel per byte without changing the
values of the pixels:
if (bit_depth < 8)
png_set_packing(png_ptr);
PNG files have possible bit depths of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16. All pixels stored in a PNG image have been
"scaled" or "shifted" up to the next higher possible bit depth (e.g. from 5 bits/sample in the range
[0,31] to 8 bits/sample in the range [0, 255]). However, it is also possible to convert the PNG pixel
data back to the original bit depth of the image. This call reduces the pixels back down to the original
bit depth:
png_color_8p sig_bit;
if (png_get_sBIT(png_ptr, info_ptr, &sig_bit))
png_set_shift(png_ptr, sig_bit);
PNG files store 3-color pixels in red, green, blue order. This code changes the storage of the pixels to
blue, green, red:
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB ||
color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB_ALPHA)
png_set_bgr(png_ptr);
PNG files store RGB pixels packed into 3 or 6 bytes. This code expands them into 4 or 8 bytes for
windowing systems that need them in this format:
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB)
png_set_filler(png_ptr, filler, PNG_FILLER_BEFORE);
where "filler" is the 8-bit or 16-bit number to fill with, and the location is either PNG_FILLER_BEFORE
or PNG_FILLER_AFTER, depending upon whether you want the filler before the RGB or after. When filling an
8-bit pixel, the least significant 8 bits of the number are used, if a 16-bit number is supplied. This
transformation does not affect images that already have full alpha channels. To add an opaque alpha
channel, use filler=0xffff and PNG_FILLER_AFTER which will generate RGBA pixels.
Note that png_set_filler() does not change the color type. If you want to do that, you can add a true
alpha channel with
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB ||
color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY)
png_set_add_alpha(png_ptr, filler, PNG_FILLER_AFTER);
where "filler" contains the alpha value to assign to each pixel. The png_set_add_alpha() function was
added in libpng-1.2.7.
If you are reading an image with an alpha channel, and you need the data as ARGB instead of the normal
PNG format RGBA:
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB_ALPHA)
png_set_swap_alpha(png_ptr);
For some uses, you may want a grayscale image to be represented as RGB. This code will do that
conversion:
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY ||
color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY_ALPHA)
png_set_gray_to_rgb(png_ptr);
Conversely, you can convert an RGB or RGBA image to grayscale or grayscale with alpha.
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB ||
color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB_ALPHA)
png_set_rgb_to_gray(png_ptr, error_action,
double red_weight, double green_weight);
error_action = 1: silently do the conversion
error_action = 2: issue a warning if the original
image has any pixel where
red != green or red != blue
error_action = 3: issue an error and abort the
conversion if the original
image has any pixel where
red != green or red != blue
red_weight: weight of red component
green_weight: weight of green component
If either weight is negative, default
weights are used.
In the corresponding fixed point API the red_weight and green_weight values are simply scaled by 100,000:
png_set_rgb_to_gray(png_ptr, error_action,
png_fixed_point red_weight,
png_fixed_point green_weight);
If you have set error_action = 1 or 2, you can later check whether the image really was gray, after
processing the image rows, with the png_get_rgb_to_gray_status(png_ptr) function. It will return a
png_byte that is zero if the image was gray or 1 if there were any non-gray pixels. Background and sBIT
data will be silently converted to grayscale, using the green channel data for sBIT, regardless of the
error_action setting.
The default values come from the PNG file cHRM chunk if present; otherwise, the defaults correspond to
the ITU-R recommendation 709, and also the sRGB color space, as recommended in the Charles Poynton's
Colour FAQ, Copyright (c) 2006-11-28 Charles Poynton, in section 9:
<http://www.poynton.com/notes/colour_and_gamma/ColorFAQ.html#RTFToC9>
Y = 0.2126 * R + 0.7152 * G + 0.0722 * B
Previous versions of this document, 1998 through 2002, recommended a slightly different formula:
Y = 0.212671 * R + 0.715160 * G + 0.072169 * B
Libpng uses an integer approximation:
Y = (6968 * R + 23434 * G + 2366 * B)/32768
The calculation is done in a linear colorspace, if the image gamma can be determined.
The png_set_background() function has been described already; it tells libpng to composite images with
alpha or simple transparency against the supplied background color. For compatibility with versions of
libpng earlier than libpng-1.5.4 it is recommended that you call the function after reading the file
header, even if you don't want to use the color in a bKGD chunk, if one exists.
If the PNG file contains a bKGD chunk (PNG_INFO_bKGD valid), you may use this color, or supply another
color more suitable for the current display (e.g., the background color from a web page). You need to
tell libpng how the color is represented, both the format of the component values in the color (the
number of bits) and the gamma encoding of the color. The function takes two arguments,
background_gamma_mode and need_expand to convey this information; however, only two combinations are
likely to be useful:
png_color_16 my_background;
png_color_16p image_background;
if (png_get_bKGD(png_ptr, info_ptr, &image_background))
png_set_background(png_ptr, image_background,
PNG_BACKGROUND_GAMMA_FILE, 1/*needs to be expanded*/, 1);
else
png_set_background(png_ptr, &my_background,
PNG_BACKGROUND_GAMMA_SCREEN, 0/*do not expand*/, 1);
The second call was described above - my_background is in the format of the final, display, output
produced by libpng. Because you now know the format of the PNG it is possible to avoid the need to
choose either 8-bit or 16-bit output and to retain palette images (the palette colors will be modified
appropriately and the tRNS chunk removed.) However, if you are doing this, take great care not to ask
for transformations without checking first that they apply!
In the first call the background color has the original bit depth and color type of the PNG file. So,
for palette images the color is supplied as a palette index and for low bit greyscale images the color is
a reduced bit value in image_background->gray.
If you didn't call png_set_gamma() before reading the file header, for example if you need your code to
remain compatible with older versions of libpng prior to libpng-1.5.4, this is the place to call it.
Do not call it if you called png_set_alpha_mode(); doing so will damage the settings put in place by
png_set_alpha_mode(). (If png_set_alpha_mode() is supported then you can certainly do png_set_gamma()
before reading the PNG header.)
This API unconditionally sets the screen and file gamma values, so it will override the value in the PNG
file unless it is called before the PNG file reading starts. For this reason you must always call it
with the PNG file value when you call it in this position:
if (png_get_gAMA(png_ptr, info_ptr, &file_gamma))
png_set_gamma(png_ptr, screen_gamma, file_gamma);
else
png_set_gamma(png_ptr, screen_gamma, 0.45455);
If you need to reduce an RGB file to a paletted file, or if a paletted file has more entries than will
fit on your screen, png_set_quantize() will do that. Note that this is a simple match quantization that
merely finds the closest color available. This should work fairly well with optimized palettes, but
fairly badly with linear color cubes. If you pass a palette that is larger than maximum_colors, the file
will reduce the number of colors in the palette so it will fit into maximum_colors. If there is a
histogram, libpng will use it to make more intelligent choices when reducing the palette. If there is no
histogram, it may not do as good a job.
if (color_type & PNG_COLOR_MASK_COLOR)
{
if (png_get_valid(png_ptr, info_ptr,
PNG_INFO_PLTE))
{
png_uint_16p histogram = NULL;
png_get_hIST(png_ptr, info_ptr,
&histogram);
png_set_quantize(png_ptr, palette, num_palette,
max_screen_colors, histogram, 1);
}
else
{
png_color std_color_cube[MAX_SCREEN_COLORS] =
{ ... colors ... };
png_set_quantize(png_ptr, std_color_cube,
MAX_SCREEN_COLORS, MAX_SCREEN_COLORS,
NULL,0);
}
}
PNG files describe monochrome as black being zero and white being one. The following code will reverse
this (make black be one and white be zero):
if (bit_depth == 1 && color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY)
png_set_invert_mono(png_ptr);
This function can also be used to invert grayscale and gray-alpha images:
if (color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY ||
color_type == PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY_ALPHA)
png_set_invert_mono(png_ptr);
PNG files store 16-bit pixels in network byte order (big-endian, ie. most significant bits first). This
code changes the storage to the other way (little-endian, i.e. least significant bits first, the way PCs
store them):
if (bit_depth == 16)
png_set_swap(png_ptr);
If you are using packed-pixel images (1, 2, or 4 bits/pixel), and you need to change the order the pixels
are packed into bytes, you can use:
if (bit_depth < 8)
png_set_packswap(png_ptr);
Finally, you can write your own transformation function if none of the existing ones meets your needs.
This is done by setting a callback with
png_set_read_user_transform_fn(png_ptr,
read_transform_fn);
You must supply the function
void read_transform_fn(png_structp png_ptr, png_row_infop
row_info, png_bytep data)
See pngtest.c for a working example. Your function will be called after all of the other transformations
have been processed. Take care with interlaced images if you do the interlace yourself - the width of
the row is the width in 'row_info', not the overall image width.
If supported, libpng provides two information routines that you can use to find where you are in
processing the image:
png_get_current_pass_number(png_structp png_ptr);
png_get_current_row_number(png_structp png_ptr);
Don't try using these outside a transform callback - firstly they are only supported if user transforms
are supported, secondly they may well return unexpected results unless the row is actually being
processed at the moment they are called.
With interlaced images the value returned is the row in the input sub-image image. Use
PNG_ROW_FROM_PASS_ROW(row, pass) and PNG_COL_FROM_PASS_COL(col, pass) to find the output pixel (x,y)
given an interlaced sub-image pixel (row,col,pass).
The discussion of interlace handling above contains more information on how to use these values.
You can also set up a pointer to a user structure for use by your callback function, and you can inform
libpng that your transform function will change the number of channels or bit depth with the function
png_set_user_transform_info(png_ptr, user_ptr,
user_depth, user_channels);
The user's application, not libpng, is responsible for allocating and freeing any memory required for the
user structure.
You can retrieve the pointer via the function png_get_user_transform_ptr(). For example:
voidp read_user_transform_ptr =
png_get_user_transform_ptr(png_ptr);
The last thing to handle is interlacing; this is covered in detail below, but you must call the function
here if you want libpng to handle expansion of the interlaced image.
number_of_passes = png_set_interlace_handling(png_ptr);
After setting the transformations, libpng can update your png_info structure to reflect any
transformations you've requested with this call.
png_read_update_info(png_ptr, info_ptr);
This is most useful to update the info structure's rowbytes field so you can use it to allocate your
image memory. This function will also update your palette with the correct screen_gamma and background
if these have been given with the calls above. You may only call png_read_update_info() once with a
particular info_ptr.
After you call png_read_update_info(), you can allocate any memory you need to hold the image. The row
data is simply raw byte data for all forms of images. As the actual allocation varies among
applications, no example will be given. If you are allocating one large chunk, you will need to build an
array of pointers to each row, as it will be needed for some of the functions below.
Remember: Before you call png_read_update_info(), the png_get_*() functions return the values
corresponding to the original PNG image. After you call png_read_update_info the values refer to the
image that libpng will output. Consequently you must call all the png_set_ functions before you call
png_read_update_info(). This is particularly important for png_set_interlace_handling() - if you are
going to call png_read_update_info() you must call png_set_interlace_handling() before it unless you want
to receive interlaced output.
Reading image data
After you've allocated memory, you can read the image data. The simplest way to do this is in one
function call. If you are allocating enough memory to hold the whole image, you can just call
png_read_image() and libpng will read in all the image data and put it in the memory area supplied. You
will need to pass in an array of pointers to each row.
This function automatically handles interlacing, so you don't need to call png_set_interlace_handling()
(unless you call png_read_update_info()) or call this function multiple times, or any of that other stuff
necessary with png_read_rows().
png_read_image(png_ptr, row_pointers);
where row_pointers is:
png_bytep row_pointers[height];
You can point to void or char or whatever you use for pixels.
If you don't want to read in the whole image at once, you can use png_read_rows() instead. If there is
no interlacing (check interlace_type == PNG_INTERLACE_NONE), this is simple:
png_read_rows(png_ptr, row_pointers, NULL,
number_of_rows);
where row_pointers is the same as in the png_read_image() call.
If you are doing this just one row at a time, you can do this with a single row_pointer instead of an
array of row_pointers:
png_bytep row_pointer = row;
png_read_row(png_ptr, row_pointer, NULL);
If the file is interlaced (interlace_type != 0 in the IHDR chunk), things get somewhat harder. The only
current (PNG Specification version 1.2) interlacing type for PNG is (interlace_type ==
PNG_INTERLACE_ADAM7); a somewhat complicated 2D interlace scheme, known as Adam7, that breaks down an
image into seven smaller images of varying size, based on an 8x8 grid. This number is defined (from
libpng 1.5) as PNG_INTERLACE_ADAM7_PASSES in png.h
libpng can fill out those images or it can give them to you "as is". It is almost always better to have
libpng handle the interlacing for you. If you want the images filled out, there are two ways to do that.
The one mentioned in the PNG specification is to expand each pixel to cover those pixels that have not
been read yet (the "rectangle" method). This results in a blocky image for the first pass, which
gradually smooths out as more pixels are read. The other method is the "sparkle" method, where pixels
are drawn only in their final locations, with the rest of the image remaining whatever colors they were
initialized to before the start of the read. The first method usually looks better, but tends to be
slower, as there are more pixels to put in the rows.
If, as is likely, you want libpng to expand the images, call this before calling png_start_read_image()
or png_read_update_info():
if (interlace_type == PNG_INTERLACE_ADAM7)
number_of_passes
= png_set_interlace_handling(png_ptr);
This will return the number of passes needed. Currently, this is seven, but may change if another
interlace type is added. This function can be called even if the file is not interlaced, where it will
return one pass. You then need to read the whole image 'number_of_passes' times. Each time will
distribute the pixels from the current pass to the correct place in the output image, so you need to
supply the same rows to png_read_rows in each pass.
If you are not going to display the image after each pass, but are going to wait until the entire image
is read in, use the sparkle effect. This effect is faster and the end result of either method is exactly
the same. If you are planning on displaying the image after each pass, the "rectangle" effect is
generally considered the better looking one.
If you only want the "sparkle" effect, just call png_read_rows() as normal, with the third parameter
NULL. Make sure you make pass over the image number_of_passes times, and you don't change the data in
the rows between calls. You can change the locations of the data, just not the data. Each pass only
writes the pixels appropriate for that pass, and assumes the data from previous passes is still valid.
png_read_rows(png_ptr, row_pointers, NULL,
number_of_rows);
If you only want the first effect (the rectangles), do the same as before except pass the row buffer in
the third parameter, and leave the second parameter NULL.
png_read_rows(png_ptr, NULL, row_pointers,
number_of_rows);
If you don't want libpng to handle the interlacing details, just call png_read_rows()
PNG_INTERLACE_ADAM7_PASSES times to read in all the images. Each of the images is a valid image by
itself; however, you will almost certainly need to distribute the pixels from each sub-image to the
correct place. This is where everything gets very tricky.
If you want to retrieve the separate images you must pass the correct number of rows to each successive
call of png_read_rows(). The calculation gets pretty complicated for small images, where some sub-images
may not even exist because either their width or height ends up zero. libpng provides two macros to help
you in 1.5 and later versions:
png_uint_32 width = PNG_PASS_COLS(image_width, pass_number);
png_uint_32 height = PNG_PASS_ROWS(image_height, pass_number);
Respectively these tell you the width and height of the sub-image corresponding to the numbered pass.
'pass' is in in the range 0 to 6 - this can be confusing because the specification refers to the same
passes as 1 to 7! Be careful, you must check both the width and height before calling png_read_rows()
and not call it for that pass if either is zero.
You can, of course, read each sub-image row by row. If you want to produce optimal code to make a pixel-
by-pixel transformation of an interlaced image this is the best approach; read each row of each pass,
transform it, and write it out to a new interlaced image.
If you want to de-interlace the image yourself libpng provides further macros to help that tell you where
to place the pixels in the output image. Because the interlacing scheme is rectangular - sub-image
pixels are always arranged on a rectangular grid - all you need to know for each pass is the starting
column and row in the output image of the first pixel plus the spacing between each pixel. As of libpng
1.5 there are four macros to retrieve this information:
png_uint_32 x = PNG_PASS_START_COL(pass);
png_uint_32 y = PNG_PASS_START_ROW(pass);
png_uint_32 xStep = 1U << PNG_PASS_COL_SHIFT(pass);
png_uint_32 yStep = 1U << PNG_PASS_ROW_SHIFT(pass);
These allow you to write the obvious loop:
png_uint_32 input_y = 0;
png_uint_32 output_y = PNG_PASS_START_ROW(pass);
while (output_y < output_image_height)
{
png_uint_32 input_x = 0;
png_uint_32 output_x = PNG_PASS_START_COL(pass);
while (output_x < output_image_width)
{
image[output_y][output_x] =
subimage[pass][input_y][input_x++];
output_x += xStep;
}
++input_y;
output_y += yStep;
}
Notice that the steps between successive output rows and columns are returned as shifts. This is
possible because the pixels in the subimages are always a power of 2 apart - 1, 2, 4 or 8 pixels - in the
original image. In practice you may need to directly calculate the output coordinate given an input
coordinate. libpng provides two further macros for this purpose:
png_uint_32 output_x = PNG_COL_FROM_PASS_COL(input_x, pass);
png_uint_32 output_y = PNG_ROW_FROM_PASS_ROW(input_y, pass);
Finally a pair of macros are provided to tell you if a particular image row or column appears in a given
pass:
int col_in_pass = PNG_COL_IN_INTERLACE_PASS(output_x, pass);
int row_in_pass = PNG_ROW_IN_INTERLACE_PASS(output_y, pass);
Bear in mind that you will probably also need to check the width and height of the pass in addition to
the above to be sure the pass even exists!
With any luck you are convinced by now that you don't want to do your own interlace handling. In reality
normally the only good reason for doing this is if you are processing PNG files on a pixel-by-pixel basis
and don't want to load the whole file into memory when it is interlaced.
libpng includes a test program, pngvalid, that illustrates reading and writing of interlaced images. If
you can't get interlacing to work in your code and don't want to leave it to libpng (the recommended
approach), see how pngvalid.c does it.
Finishing a sequential read
After you are finished reading the image through the low-level interface, you can finish reading the
file.
If you want to use a different crc action for handling CRC errors in chunks after the image data, you can
call png_set_crc_action() again at this point.
If you are interested in comments or time, which may be stored either before or after the image data, you
should pass the separate png_info struct if you want to keep the comments from before and after the image
separate.
png_infop end_info = png_create_info_struct(png_ptr);
if (!end_info)
{
png_destroy_read_struct(&png_ptr, &info_ptr,
(png_infopp)NULL);
return (ERROR);
}
png_read_end(png_ptr, end_info);
If you are not interested, you should still call png_read_end() but you can pass NULL, avoiding the need
to create an end_info structure. If you do this, libpng will not process any chunks after IDAT other
than skipping over them and perhaps (depending on whether you have called png_set_crc_action) checking
their CRCs while looking for the IEND chunk.
png_read_end(png_ptr, (png_infop)NULL);
If you don't call png_read_end(), then your file pointer will be left pointing to the first chunk after
the last IDAT, which is probably not what you want if you expect to read something beyond the end of the
PNG datastream.
When you are done, you can free all memory allocated by libpng like this:
png_destroy_read_struct(&png_ptr, &info_ptr,
&end_info);
or, if you didn't create an end_info structure,
png_destroy_read_struct(&png_ptr, &info_ptr,
(png_infopp)NULL);
It is also possible to individually free the info_ptr members that point to libpng-allocated storage with
the following function:
png_free_data(png_ptr, info_ptr, mask, seq)
mask - identifies data to be freed, a mask
containing the bitwise OR of one or
more of
PNG_FREE_PLTE, PNG_FREE_TRNS,
PNG_FREE_HIST, PNG_FREE_ICCP,
PNG_FREE_PCAL, PNG_FREE_ROWS,
PNG_FREE_SCAL, PNG_FREE_SPLT,
PNG_FREE_TEXT, PNG_FREE_UNKN,
or simply PNG_FREE_ALL
seq - sequence number of item to be freed
(-1 for all items)
This function may be safely called when the relevant storage has already been freed, or has not yet been
allocated, or was allocated by the user and not by libpng, and will in those cases do nothing. The
"seq" parameter is ignored if only one item of the selected data type, such as PLTE, is allowed. If
"seq" is not -1, and multiple items are allowed for the data type identified in the mask, such as text or
sPLT, only the n'th item in the structure is freed, where n is "seq".
The default behavior is only to free data that was allocated internally by libpng. This can be changed,
so that libpng will not free the data, or so that it will free data that was allocated by the user with
png_malloc() or png_calloc() and passed in via a png_set_*() function, with
png_data_freer(png_ptr, info_ptr, freer, mask)
freer - one of
PNG_DESTROY_WILL_FREE_DATA
PNG_SET_WILL_FREE_DATA
PNG_USER_WILL_FREE_DATA
mask - which data elements are affected
same choices as in png_free_data()
This function only affects data that has already been allocated. You can call this function after
reading the PNG data but before calling any png_set_*() functions, to control whether the user or the
png_set_*() function is responsible for freeing any existing data that might be present, and again after
the png_set_*() functions to control whether the user or png_destroy_*() is supposed to free the data.
When the user assumes responsibility for libpng-allocated data, the application must use png_free() to
free it, and when the user transfers responsibility to libpng for data that the user has allocated, the
user must have used png_malloc() or png_calloc() to allocate it.
If you allocated your row_pointers in a single block, as suggested above in the description of the high
level read interface, you must not transfer responsibility for freeing it to the png_set_rows or
png_read_destroy function, because they would also try to free the individual row_pointers[i].
If you allocated text_ptr.text, text_ptr.lang, and text_ptr.translated_keyword separately, do not
transfer responsibility for freeing text_ptr to libpng, because when libpng fills a png_text structure it
combines these members with the key member, and png_free_data() will free only text_ptr.key. Similarly,
if you transfer responsibility for free'ing text_ptr from libpng to your application, your application
must not separately free those members.
The png_free_data() function will turn off the "valid" flag for anything it frees. If you need to turn
the flag off for a chunk that was freed by your application instead of by libpng, you can use
png_set_invalid(png_ptr, info_ptr, mask);
mask - identifies the chunks to be made invalid,
containing the bitwise OR of one or
more of
PNG_INFO_gAMA, PNG_INFO_sBIT,
PNG_INFO_cHRM, PNG_INFO_PLTE,
PNG_INFO_tRNS, PNG_INFO_bKGD,
PNG_INFO_hIST, PNG_INFO_pHYs,
PNG_INFO_oFFs, PNG_INFO_tIME,
PNG_INFO_pCAL, PNG_INFO_sRGB,
PNG_INFO_iCCP, PNG_INFO_sPLT,
PNG_INFO_sCAL, PNG_INFO_IDAT
For a more compact example of reading a PNG image, see the file example.c.
Reading PNG files progressively
The progressive reader is slightly different from the non-progressive reader. Instead of calling
png_read_info(), png_read_rows(), and png_read_end(), you make one call to png_process_data(), which
calls callbacks when it has the info, a row, or the end of the image. You set up these callbacks with
png_set_progressive_read_fn(). You don't have to worry about the input/output functions of libpng, as
you are giving the library the data directly in png_process_data(). I will assume that you have read the
section on reading PNG files above, so I will only highlight the differences (although I will show all of
the code).
png_structp png_ptr; png_infop info_ptr;
/* An example code fragment of how you would
initialize the progressive reader in your
application. */
int
initialize_png_reader()
{
png_ptr = png_create_read_struct
(PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, (png_voidp)user_error_ptr,
user_error_fn, user_warning_fn);
if (!png_ptr)
return (ERROR);
info_ptr = png_create_info_struct(png_ptr);
if (!info_ptr)
{
png_destroy_read_struct(&png_ptr,
(png_infopp)NULL, (png_infopp)NULL);
return (ERROR);
}
if (setjmp(png_jmpbuf(png_ptr)))
{
png_destroy_read_struct(&png_ptr, &info_ptr,
(png_infopp)NULL);
return (ERROR);
}
/* This one's new. You can provide functions
to be called when the header info is valid,
when each row is completed, and when the image
is finished. If you aren't using all functions,
you can specify NULL parameters. Even when all
three functions are NULL, you need to call
png_set_progressive_read_fn(). You can use
any struct as the user_ptr (cast to a void pointer
for the function call), and retrieve the pointer
from inside the callbacks using the function
png_get_progressive_ptr(png_ptr);
which will return a void pointer, which you have
to cast appropriately.
*/
png_set_progressive_read_fn(png_ptr, (void *)user_ptr,
info_callback, row_callback, end_callback);
return 0;
}
/* A code fragment that you call as you receive blocks
of data */
int
process_data(png_bytep buffer, png_uint_32 length)
{
if (setjmp(png_jmpbuf(png_ptr)))
{
png_destroy_read_struct(&png_ptr, &info_ptr,
(png_infopp)NULL);
return (ERROR);
}
/* This one's new also. Simply give it a chunk
of data from the file stream (in order, of
course). On machines with segmented memory
models machines, don't give it any more than
64K. The library seems to run fine with sizes
of 4K. Although you can give it much less if
necessary (I assume you can give it chunks of
1 byte, I haven't tried less than 256 bytes
yet). When this function returns, you may
want to display any rows that were generated
in the row callback if you don't already do
so there.
*/
png_process_data(png_ptr, info_ptr, buffer, length);
/* At this point you can call png_process_data_skip if
you want to handle data the library will skip yourself;
it simply returns the number of bytes to skip (and stops
libpng skipping that number of bytes on the next
png_process_data call).
return 0;
}
/* This function is called (as set by
png_set_progressive_read_fn() above) when enough data
has been supplied so all of the header has been
read.
*/
void
info_callback(png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info)
{
/* Do any setup here, including setting any of
the transformations mentioned in the Reading
PNG files section. For now, you _must_ call
either png_start_read_image() or
png_read_update_info() after all the
transformations are set (even if you don't set
any). You may start getting rows before
png_process_data() returns, so this is your
last chance to prepare for that.
This is where you turn on interlace handling,
assuming you don't want to do it yourself.
If you need to you can stop the processing of
your original input data at this point by calling
png_process_data_pause. This returns the number
of unprocessed bytes from the last png_process_data
call - it is up to you to ensure that the next call
sees these bytes again. If you don't want to bother
with this you can get libpng to cache the unread
bytes by setting the 'save' parameter (see png.h) but
then libpng will have to copy the data internally.
*/
}
/* This function is called when each row of image
data is complete */
void
row_callback(png_structp png_ptr, png_bytep new_row,
png_uint_32 row_num, int pass)
{
/* If the image is interlaced, and you turned
on the interlace handler, this function will
be called for every row in every pass. Some
of these rows will not be changed from the
previous pass. When the row is not changed,
the new_row variable will be NULL. The rows
and passes are called in order, so you don't
really need the row_num and pass, but I'm
supplying them because it may make your life
easier.
If you did not turn on interlace handling then
the callback is called for each row of each
sub-image when the image is interlaced. In this
case 'row_num' is the row in the sub-image, not
the row in the output image as it is in all other
cases.
For the non-NULL rows of interlaced images when
you have switched on libpng interlace handling,
you must call png_progressive_combine_row()
passing in the row and the old row. You can
call this function for NULL rows (it will just
return) and for non-interlaced images (it just
does the memcpy for you) if it will make the
code easier. Thus, you can just do this for
all cases if you switch on interlace handling;
*/
png_progressive_combine_row(png_ptr, old_row,
new_row);
/* where old_row is what was displayed
previously for the row. Note that the first
pass (pass == 0, really) will completely cover
the old row, so the rows do not have to be
initialized. After the first pass (and only
for interlaced images), you will have to pass
the current row, and the function will combine
the old row and the new row.
You can also call png_process_data_pause in this
callback - see above.
*/
}
void
end_callback(png_structp png_ptr, png_infop info)
{
/* This function is called after the whole image
has been read, including any chunks after the
image (up to and including the IEND). You
will usually have the same info chunk as you
had in the header, although some data may have
been added to the comments and time fields.
Most people won't do much here, perhaps setting
a flag that marks the image as finished.
*/
}
IV. Writing
Much of this is very similar to reading. However, everything of importance is repeated here, so you
won't have to constantly look back up in the reading section to understand writing.
Setup
You will want to do the I/O initialization before you get into libpng, so if it doesn't work, you don't
have anything to undo. If you are not using the standard I/O functions, you will need to replace them
with custom writing functions. See the discussion under Customizing libpng.
FILE *fp = fopen(file_name, "wb");
if (!fp)
return (ERROR);
Next, png_struct and png_info need to be allocated and initialized. As these can be both relatively
large, you may not want to store these on the stack, unless you have stack space to spare. Of course,
you will want to check if they return NULL. If you are also reading, you won't want to name your read
structure and your write structure both "png_ptr"; you can call them anything you like, such as
"read_ptr" and "write_ptr". Look at pngtest.c, for example.
png_structp png_ptr = png_create_write_struct
(PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, (png_voidp)user_error_ptr,
user_error_fn, user_warning_fn);
if (!png_ptr)
return (ERROR);
png_infop info_ptr = png_create_info_struct(png_ptr);
if (!info_ptr)
{
png_destroy_write_struct(&png_ptr,
(png_infopp)NULL);
return (ERROR);
}
If you want to use your own memory allocation routines, define PNG_USER_MEM_SUPPORTED and use
png_create_write_struct_2() instead of png_create_write_struct():
png_structp png_ptr = png_create_write_struct_2
(PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, (png_voidp)user_error_ptr,
user_error_fn, user_warning_fn, (png_voidp)
user_mem_ptr, user_malloc_fn, user_free_fn);
After you have these structures, you will need to set up the error handling. When libpng encounters an
error, it expects to longjmp() back to your routine. Therefore, you will need to call setjmp() and pass
the png_jmpbuf(png_ptr). If you write the file from different routines, you will need to update the
png_jmpbuf(png_ptr) every time you enter a new routine that will call a png_*() function. See your
documentation of setjmp/longjmp for your compiler for more information on setjmp/longjmp. See the
discussion on libpng error handling in the Customizing Libpng section below for more information on the
libpng error handling.
if (setjmp(png_jmpbuf(png_ptr)))
{
png_destroy_write_struct(&png_ptr, &info_ptr);
fclose(fp);
return (ERROR);
}
...
return;
If you would rather avoid the complexity of setjmp/longjmp issues, you can compile libpng with
PNG_NO_SETJMP, in which case errors will result in a call to PNG_ABORT() which defaults to abort().
You can #define PNG_ABORT() to a function that does something more useful than abort(), as long as your
function does not return.
Checking for invalid palette index on write was added at libpng 1.5.10. If a pixel contains an invalid
(out-of-range) index libpng issues a benign error. This is enabled by default because this condition is
an error according to the PNG specification, Clause 11.3.2, but the error can be ignored in each png_ptr
with
png_set_check_for_invalid_index(png_ptr, 0);
If the error is ignored, or if png_benign_error() treats it as a warning, any invalid pixels are written
as-is by the encoder, resulting in an invalid PNG datastream as output. In this case the application is
responsible for ensuring that the pixel indexes are in range when it writes a PLTE chunk with fewer
entries than the bit depth would allow.
Now you need to set up the output code. The default for libpng is to use the C function fwrite(). If
you use this, you will need to pass a valid FILE * in the function png_init_io(). Be sure that the file
is opened in binary mode. Again, if you wish to handle writing data in another way, see the discussion
on libpng I/O handling in the Customizing Libpng section below.
png_init_io(png_ptr, fp);
If you are embedding your PNG into a datastream such as MNG, and don't want libpng to write the 8-byte
signature, or if you have already written the signature in your application, use
png_set_sig_bytes(png_ptr, 8);
to inform libpng that it should not write a signature.
Write callbacks
At this point, you can set up a callback function that will be called after each row has been written,
which you can use to control a progress meter or the like. It's demonstrated in pngtest.c. You must
supply a function
void write_row_callback(png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 row,
int pass);
{
/* put your code here */
}
(You can give it another name that you like instead of "write_row_callback")
To inform libpng about your function, use
png_set_write_status_fn(png_ptr, write_row_callback);
When this function is called the row has already been completely processed and it has also been written
out. The 'row' and 'pass' refer to the next row to be handled. For the non-interlaced case the row that
was just handled is simply one less than the passed in row number, and pass will always be 0. For the
interlaced case the same applies unless the row value is 0, in which case the row just handled was the
last one from one of the preceding passes. Because interlacing may skip a pass you cannot be sure that
the preceding pass is just 'pass-1', if you really need to know what the last pass is record (row,pass)
from the callback and use the last recorded value each time.
As with the user transform you can find the output row using the PNG_ROW_FROM_PASS_ROW macro.
You now have the option of modifying how the compression library will run. The following functions are
mainly for testing, but may be useful in some cases, like if you need to write PNG files extremely fast
and are willing to give up some compression, or if you want to get the maximum possible compression at
the expense of slower writing. If you have no special needs in this area, let the library do what it
wants by not calling this function at all, as it has been tuned to deliver a good speed/compression
ratio. The second parameter to png_set_filter() is the filter method, for which the only valid values are
0 (as of the July 1999 PNG specification, version 1.2) or 64 (if you are writing a PNG datastream that is
to be embedded in a MNG datastream). The third parameter is a flag that indicates which filter type(s)
are to be tested for each scanline. See the PNG specification for details on the specific filter types.
/* turn on or off filtering, and/or choose
specific filters. You can use either a single
PNG_FILTER_VALUE_NAME or the bitwise OR of one
or more PNG_FILTER_NAME masks.
*/
png_set_filter(png_ptr, 0,
PNG_FILTER_NONE | PNG_FILTER_VALUE_NONE |
PNG_FILTER_SUB | PNG_FILTER_VALUE_SUB |
PNG_FILTER_UP | PNG_FILTER_VALUE_UP |
PNG_FILTER_AVG | PNG_FILTER_VALUE_AVG |
PNG_FILTER_PAETH | PNG_FILTER_VALUE_PAETH|
PNG_ALL_FILTERS);
If an application wants to start and stop using particular filters during compression, it should start
out with all of the filters (to ensure that the previous row of pixels will be stored in case it's needed
later), and then add and remove them after the start of compression.
If you are writing a PNG datastream that is to be embedded in a MNG datastream, the second parameter can
be either 0 or 64.
The png_set_compression_*() functions interface to the zlib compression library, and should mostly be
ignored unless you really know what you are doing. The only generally useful call is
png_set_compression_level() which changes how much time zlib spends on trying to compress the image data.
See the Compression Library (zlib.h and algorithm.txt, distributed with zlib) for details on the
compression levels.
#include zlib.h
/* Set the zlib compression level */
png_set_compression_level(png_ptr,
Z_BEST_COMPRESSION);
/* Set other zlib parameters for compressing IDAT */
png_set_compression_mem_level(png_ptr, 8);
png_set_compression_strategy(png_ptr,
Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY);
png_set_compression_window_bits(png_ptr, 15);
png_set_compression_method(png_ptr, 8);
png_set_compression_buffer_size(png_ptr, 8192)
/* Set zlib parameters for text compression
* If you don't call these, the parameters
* fall back on those defined for IDAT chunks
*/
png_set_text_compression_mem_level(png_ptr, 8);
png_set_text_compression_strategy(png_ptr,
Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY);
png_set_text_compression_window_bits(png_ptr, 15);
png_set_text_compression_method(png_ptr, 8);
Setting the contents of info for output
You now need to fill in the png_info structure with all the data you wish to write before the actual
image. Note that the only thing you are allowed to write after the image is the text chunks and the time
chunk (as of PNG Specification 1.2, anyway). See png_write_end() and the latest PNG specification for
more information on that. If you wish to write them before the image, fill them in now, and flag that
data as being valid. If you want to wait until after the data, don't fill them until png_write_end().
For all the fields in png_info and their data types, see png.h. For explanations of what the fields
contain, see the PNG specification.
Some of the more important parts of the png_info are:
png_set_IHDR(png_ptr, info_ptr, width, height,
bit_depth, color_type, interlace_type,
compression_type, filter_method)
width - holds the width of the image
in pixels (up to 2^31).
height - holds the height of the image
in pixels (up to 2^31).
bit_depth - holds the bit depth of one of the
image channels.
(valid values are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16
and depend also on the
color_type. See also significant
bits (sBIT) below).
color_type - describes which color/alpha
channels are present.
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY
(bit depths 1, 2, 4, 8, 16)
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY_ALPHA
(bit depths 8, 16)
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_PALETTE
(bit depths 1, 2, 4, 8)
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB
(bit_depths 8, 16)
PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB_ALPHA
(bit_depths 8, 16)
PNG_COLOR_MASK_PALETTE
PNG_COLOR_MASK_COLOR
PNG_COLOR_MASK_ALPHA
interlace_type - PNG_INTERLACE_NONE or
PNG_INTERLACE_ADAM7
compression_type - (must be
PNG_COMPRESSION_TYPE_DEFAULT)
filter_method - (must be PNG_FILTER_TYPE_DEFAULT
or, if you are writing a PNG to
be embedded in a MNG datastream,
can also be
PNG_INTRAPIXEL_DIFFERENCING)
If you call png_set_IHDR(), the call must appear before any of the other png_set_*() functions, because
they might require access to some of the IHDR settings. The remaining png_set_*() functions can be
called in any order.
If you wish, you can reset the compression_type, interlace_type, or filter_method later by calling
png_set_IHDR() again; if you do this, the width, height, bit_depth, and color_type must be the same in
each call.
png_set_PLTE(png_ptr, info_ptr, palette,
num_palette);
palette - the palette for the file
(array of png_color)
num_palette - number of entries in the palette
png_set_gAMA(png_ptr, info_ptr, file_gamma);
png_set_gAMA_fixed(png_ptr, info_ptr, int_file_gamma);
file_gamma - the gamma at which the image was
created (PNG_INFO_gAMA)
int_file_gamma - 100,000 times the gamma at which
the image was created
png_set_cHRM(png_ptr, info_ptr, white_x, white_y, red_x, red_y,
green_x, green_y, blue_x, blue_y)
png_set_cHRM_XYZ(png_ptr, info_ptr, red_X, red_Y, red_Z, green_X,
green_Y, green_Z, blue_X, blue_Y, blue_Z)
png_set_cHRM_fixed(png_ptr, info_ptr, int_white_x, int_white_y,
int_red_x, int_red_y, int_green_x, int_green_y,
int_blue_x, int_blue_y)
png_set_cHRM_XYZ_fixed(png_ptr, info_ptr, int_red_X, int_red_Y,
int_red_Z, int_green_X, int_green_Y, int_green_Z,
int_blue_X, int_blue_Y, int_blue_Z)
{white,red,green,blue}_{x,y}
A color space encoding specified using the chromaticities
of the end points and the white point.
{red,green,blue}_{X,Y,Z}
A color space encoding specified using the encoding end
points - the CIE tristimulus specification of the intended
color of the red, green and blue channels in the PNG RGB
data. The white point is simply the sum of the three end
points.
png_set_sRGB(png_ptr, info_ptr, srgb_intent);
srgb_intent - the rendering intent
(PNG_INFO_sRGB) The presence of
the sRGB chunk means that the pixel
data is in the sRGB color space.
This chunk also implies specific
values of gAMA and cHRM. Rendering
intent is the CSS-1 property that
has been defined by the International
Color Consortium
(http://www.color.org).
It can be one of
PNG_sRGB_INTENT_SATURATION,
PNG_sRGB_INTENT_PERCEPTUAL,
PNG_sRGB_INTENT_ABSOLUTE, or
PNG_sRGB_INTENT_RELATIVE.
png_set_sRGB_gAMA_and_cHRM(png_ptr, info_ptr,
srgb_intent);
srgb_intent - the rendering intent
(PNG_INFO_sRGB) The presence of the
sRGB chunk means that the pixel
data is in the sRGB color space.
This function also causes gAMA and
cHRM chunks with the specific values
that are consistent with sRGB to be
written.
png_set_iCCP(png_ptr, info_ptr, name, compression_type,
profile, proflen);
name - The profile name.
compression_type - The compression type; always
PNG_COMPRESSION_TYPE_BASE for PNG 1.0.
You may give NULL to this argument to
ignore it.
profile - International Color Consortium color
profile data. May contain NULs.
proflen - length of profile data in bytes.
png_set_sBIT(png_ptr, info_ptr, sig_bit);
sig_bit - the number of significant bits for
(PNG_INFO_sBIT) each of the gray, red,
green, and blue channels, whichever are
appropriate for the given color type
(png_color_16)
png_set_tRNS(png_ptr, info_ptr, trans_alpha,
num_trans, trans_color);
trans_alpha - array of alpha (transparency)
entries for palette (PNG_INFO_tRNS)
num_trans - number of transparent entries
(PNG_INFO_tRNS)
trans_color - graylevel or color sample values
(in order red, green, blue) of the
single transparent color for
non-paletted images (PNG_INFO_tRNS)
png_set_hIST(png_ptr, info_ptr, hist);
hist - histogram of palette (array of
png_uint_16) (PNG_INFO_hIST)
png_set_tIME(png_ptr, info_ptr, mod_time);
mod_time - time image was last modified
(PNG_VALID_tIME)
png_set_bKGD(png_ptr, info_ptr, background);
background - background color (of type
png_color_16p) (PNG_VALID_bKGD)
png_set_text(png_ptr, info_ptr, text_ptr, num_text);
text_ptr - array of png_text holding image
comments
text_ptr[i].compression - type of compression used
on "text" PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_NONE
PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_zTXt
PNG_ITXT_COMPRESSION_NONE
PNG_ITXT_COMPRESSION_zTXt
text_ptr[i].key - keyword for comment. Must contain
1-79 characters.
text_ptr[i].text - text comments for current
keyword. Can be NULL or empty.
text_ptr[i].text_length - length of text string,
after decompression, 0 for iTXt
text_ptr[i].itxt_length - length of itxt string,
after decompression, 0 for tEXt/zTXt
text_ptr[i].lang - language of comment (NULL or
empty for unknown).
text_ptr[i].translated_keyword - keyword in UTF-8 (NULL
or empty for unknown).
Note that the itxt_length, lang, and lang_key
members of the text_ptr structure only exist when the
library is built with iTXt chunk support. Prior to
libpng-1.4.0 the library was built by default without
iTXt support. Also note that when iTXt is supported,
they contain NULL pointers when the "compression"
field contains PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_NONE or
PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_zTXt.
num_text - number of comments
png_set_sPLT(png_ptr, info_ptr, &palette_ptr,
num_spalettes);
palette_ptr - array of png_sPLT_struct structures
to be added to the list of palettes
in the info structure.
num_spalettes - number of palette structures to be
added.
png_set_oFFs(png_ptr, info_ptr, offset_x, offset_y,
unit_type);
offset_x - positive offset from the left
edge of the screen
offset_y - positive offset from the top
edge of the screen
unit_type - PNG_OFFSET_PIXEL, PNG_OFFSET_MICROMETER
png_set_pHYs(png_ptr, info_ptr, res_x, res_y,
unit_type);
res_x - pixels/unit physical resolution
in x direction
res_y - pixels/unit physical resolution
in y direction
unit_type - PNG_RESOLUTION_UNKNOWN,
PNG_RESOLUTION_METER
png_set_sCAL(png_ptr, info_ptr, unit, width, height)
unit - physical scale units (an integer)
width - width of a pixel in physical scale units
height - height of a pixel in physical scale units
(width and height are doubles)
png_set_sCAL_s(png_ptr, info_ptr, unit, width, height)
unit - physical scale units (an integer)
width - width of a pixel in physical scale units
expressed as a string
height - height of a pixel in physical scale units
(width and height are strings like "2.54")
png_set_unknown_chunks(png_ptr, info_ptr, &unknowns,
num_unknowns)
unknowns - array of png_unknown_chunk
structures holding unknown chunks
unknowns[i].name - name of unknown chunk
unknowns[i].data - data of unknown chunk
unknowns[i].size - size of unknown chunk's data
unknowns[i].location - position to write chunk in file
0: do not write chunk
PNG_HAVE_IHDR: before PLTE
PNG_HAVE_PLTE: before IDAT
PNG_AFTER_IDAT: after IDAT
The "location" member is set automatically according to what part of the output file has already been
written. You can change its value after calling png_set_unknown_chunks() as demonstrated in pngtest.c.
Within each of the "locations", the chunks are sequenced according to their position in the structure
(that is, the value of "i", which is the order in which the chunk was either read from the input file or
defined with png_set_unknown_chunks).
A quick word about text and num_text. text is an array of png_text structures. num_text is the number
of valid structures in the array. Each png_text structure holds a language code, a keyword, a text
value, and a compression type.
The compression types have the same valid numbers as the compression types of the image data. Currently,
the only valid number is zero. However, you can store text either compressed or uncompressed, unlike
images, which always have to be compressed. So if you don't want the text compressed, set the
compression type to PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_NONE. Because tEXt and zTXt chunks don't have a language field,
if you specify PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_NONE or PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_zTXt any language code or translated
keyword will not be written out.
Until text gets around a few hundred bytes, it is not worth compressing it. After the text has been
written out to the file, the compression type is set to PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_NONE_WR or
PNG_TEXT_COMPRESSION_zTXt_WR, so that it isn't written out again at the end (in case you are calling
png_write_end() with the same struct).
The keywords that are given in the PNG Specification are:
Title Short (one line) title or
caption for image
Author Name of image's creator
Description Description of image (possibly long)
Copyright Copyright notice
Creation Time Time of original image creation
(usually RFC 1123 format, see below)
Software Software used to create the image
Disclaimer Legal disclaimer
Warning Warning of nature of content
Source Device used to create the image
Comment Miscellaneous comment; conversion
from other image format
The keyword-text pairs work like this. Keywords should be short simple descriptions of what the comment
is about. Some typical keywords are found in the PNG specification, as is some recommendations on
keywords. You can repeat keywords in a file. You can even write some text before the image and some
after. For example, you may want to put a description of the image before the image, but leave the
disclaimer until after, so viewers working over modem connections don't have to wait for the disclaimer
to go over the modem before they start seeing the image. Finally, keywords should be full words, not
abbreviations. Keywords and text are in the ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) character set (a superset of regular
ASCII) and can not contain NUL characters, and should not contain control or other unprintable
characters. To make the comments widely readable, stick with basic ASCII, and avoid machine specific
character set extensions like the IBM-PC character set. The keyword must be present, but you can leave
off the text string on non-compressed pairs. Compressed pairs must have a text string, as only the text
string is compressed anyway, so the compression would be meaningless.
PNG supports modification time via the png_time structure. Two conversion routines are provided,
png_convert_from_time_t() for time_t and png_convert_from_struct_tm() for struct tm. The time_t routine
uses gmtime(). You don't have to use either of these, but if you wish to fill in the png_time structure
directly, you should provide the time in universal time (GMT) if possible instead of your local time.
Note that the year number is the full year (e.g. 1998, rather than 98 - PNG is year 2000 compliant!), and
that months start with 1.
If you want to store the time of the original image creation, you should use a plain tEXt chunk with the
"Creation Time" keyword. This is necessary because the "creation time" of a PNG image is somewhat vague,
depending on whether you mean the PNG file, the time the image was created in a non-PNG format, a still
photo from which the image was scanned, or possibly the subject matter itself. In order to facilitate
machine-readable dates, it is recommended that the "Creation Time" tEXt chunk use RFC 1123 format dates
(e.g. "22 May 1997 18:07:10 GMT"), although this isn't a requirement. Unlike the tIME chunk, the
"Creation Time" tEXt chunk is not expected to be automatically changed by the software. To facilitate
the use of RFC 1123 dates, a function png_convert_to_rfc1123_buffer(buffer, png_timep) is provided to
convert from PNG time to an RFC 1123 format string. The caller must provide a writeable buffer of at
least 29 bytes.
Writing unknown chunks
You can use the png_set_unknown_chunks function to queue up private chunks for writing. You give it a
chunk name, location, raw data, and a size. You also must use png_set_keep_unknown_chunks() to ensure
that libpng will handle them. That's all there is to it. The chunks will be written by the next
following png_write_info_before_PLTE, png_write_info, or png_write_end function, depending upon the
specified location. Any chunks previously read into the info structure's unknown-chunk list will also be
written out in a sequence that satisfies the PNG specification's ordering rules.
Here is an example of writing two private chunks, prVt and miNE:
#ifdef PNG_WRITE_UNKNOWN_CHUNKS_SUPPORTED
/* Set unknown chunk data */
png_unknown_chunk unk_chunk[2];
strcpy((char *) unk_chunk[0].name, "prVt";
unk_chunk[0].data = (unsigned char *) "PRIVATE DATA";
unk_chunk[0].size = strlen(unk_chunk[0].data)+1;
unk_chunk[0].location = PNG_HAVE_IHDR;
strcpy((char *) unk_chunk[1].name, "miNE";
unk_chunk[1].data = (unsigned char *) "MY CHUNK DATA";
unk_chunk[1].size = strlen(unk_chunk[0].data)+1;
unk_chunk[1].location = PNG_AFTER_IDAT;
png_set_unknown_chunks(write_ptr, write_info_ptr,
unk_chunk, 2);
/* Needed because miNE is not safe-to-copy */
png_set_keep_unknown_chunks(png, PNG_HANDLE_CHUNK_ALWAYS,
(png_bytep) "miNE", 1);
# if PNG_LIBPNG_VER < 10600
/* Deal with unknown chunk location bug in 1.5.x and earlier */
png_set_unknown_chunk_location(png, info, 0, PNG_HAVE_IHDR);
png_set_unknown_chunk_location(png, info, 1, PNG_AFTER_IDAT);
# endif
# if PNG_LIBPNG_VER < 10500
/* PNG_AFTER_IDAT writes two copies of the chunk prior to libpng-1.5.0,
* one before IDAT and another after IDAT, so don't use it; only use
* PNG_HAVE_IHDR location. This call resets the location previously
* set by assignment and png_set_unknown_chunk_location() for chunk 1.
*/
png_set_unknown_chunk_location(png, info, 1, PNG_HAVE_IHDR);
# endif
#endif
The high-level write interface
At this point there are two ways to proceed; through the high-level write interface, or through a
sequence of low-level write operations. You can use the high-level interface if your image data is
present in the info structure. All defined output transformations are permitted, enabled by the
following masks.
PNG_TRANSFORM_IDENTITY No transformation
PNG_TRANSFORM_PACKING Pack 1, 2 and 4-bit samples
PNG_TRANSFORM_PACKSWAP Change order of packed
pixels to LSB first
PNG_TRANSFORM_INVERT_MONO Invert monochrome images
PNG_TRANSFORM_SHIFT Normalize pixels to the
sBIT depth
PNG_TRANSFORM_BGR Flip RGB to BGR, RGBA
to BGRA
PNG_TRANSFORM_SWAP_ALPHA Flip RGBA to ARGB or GA
to AG
PNG_TRANSFORM_INVERT_ALPHA Change alpha from opacity
to transparency
PNG_TRANSFORM_SWAP_ENDIAN Byte-swap 16-bit samples
PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_FILLER Strip out filler
bytes (deprecated).
PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_FILLER_BEFORE Strip out leading
filler bytes
PNG_TRANSFORM_STRIP_FILLER_AFTER Strip out trailing
filler bytes
If you have valid image data in the info structure (you can use png_set_rows() to put image data in the
info structure), simply do this:
png_write_png(png_ptr, info_ptr, png_transforms, NULL)
where png_transforms is an integer containing the bitwise OR of some set of transformation flags. This
call is equivalent to png_write_info(), followed the set of transformations indicated by the transform
mask, then png_write_image(), and finally png_write_end().
(The final parameter of this call is not yet used. Someday it might point to transformation parameters
required by some future output transform.)
You must use png_transforms and not call any png_set_transform() functions when you use png_write_png().
The low-level write interface
If you are going the low-level route instead, you are now ready to write all the file information up to
the actual image data. You do this with a call to png_write_info().
png_write_info(png_ptr, info_ptr);
Note that there is one transformation you may need to do before png_write_info(). In PNG files, the
alpha channel in an image is the level of opacity. If your data is supplied as a level of transparency,
you can invert the alpha channel before you write it, so that 0 is fully transparent and 255 (in 8-bit or
paletted images) or 65535 (in 16-bit images) is fully opaque, with
png_set_invert_alpha(png_ptr);
This must appear before png_write_info() instead of later with the other transformations because in the
case of paletted images the tRNS chunk data has to be inverted before the tRNS chunk is written. If your
image is not a paletted image, the tRNS data (which in such cases represents a single color to be
rendered as transparent) won't need to be changed, and you can safely do this transformation after your
png_write_info() call.
If you need to write a private chunk that you want to appear before the PLTE chunk when PLTE is present,
you can write the PNG info in two steps, and insert code to write your own chunk between them:
png_write_info_before_PLTE(png_ptr, info_ptr);
png_set_unknown_chunks(png_ptr, info_ptr, ...);
png_write_info(png_ptr, info_ptr);
After you've written the file information, you can set up the library to handle any special
transformations of the image data. The various ways to transform the data will be described in the order
that they should occur. This is important, as some of these change the color type and/or bit depth of
the data, and some others only work on certain color types and bit depths. Even though each
transformation checks to see if it has data that it can do something with, you should make sure to only
enable a transformation if it will be valid for the data. For example, don't swap red and blue on
grayscale data.
PNG files store RGB pixels packed into 3 or 6 bytes. This code tells the library to strip input data
that has 4 or 8 bytes per pixel down to 3 or 6 bytes (or strip 2 or 4-byte grayscale+filler data to 1 or
2 bytes per pixel).
png_set_filler(png_ptr, 0, PNG_FILLER_BEFORE);
where the 0 is unused, and the location is either PNG_FILLER_BEFORE or PNG_FILLER_AFTER, depending upon
whether the filler byte in the pixel is stored XRGB or RGBX.
PNG files pack pixels of bit depths 1, 2, and 4 into bytes as small as they can, resulting in, for
example, 8 pixels per byte for 1 bit files. If the data is supplied at 1 pixel per byte, use this code,
which will correctly pack the pixels into a single byte:
png_set_packing(png_ptr);
PNG files reduce possible bit depths to 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16. If your data is of another bit depth, you
can write an sBIT chunk into the file so that decoders can recover the original data if desired.
/* Set the true bit depth of the image data */
if (color_type & PNG_COLOR_MASK_COLOR)
{
sig_bit.red = true_bit_depth;
sig_bit.green = true_bit_depth;
sig_bit.blue = true_bit_depth;
}
else
{
sig_bit.gray = true_bit_depth;
}
if (color_type & PNG_COLOR_MASK_ALPHA)
{
sig_bit.alpha = true_bit_depth;
}
png_set_sBIT(png_ptr, info_ptr, &sig_bit);
If the data is stored in the row buffer in a bit depth other than one supported by PNG (e.g. 3 bit data
in the range 0-7 for a 4-bit PNG), this will scale the values to appear to be the correct bit depth as is
required by PNG.
png_set_shift(png_ptr, &sig_bit);
PNG files store 16-bit pixels in network byte order (big-endian, ie. most significant bits first). This
code would be used if they are supplied the other way (little-endian, i.e. least significant bits first,
the way PCs store them):
if (bit_depth > 8)
png_set_swap(png_ptr);
If you are using packed-pixel images (1, 2, or 4 bits/pixel), and you need to change the order the pixels
are packed into bytes, you can use:
if (bit_depth < 8)
png_set_packswap(png_ptr);
PNG files store 3 color pixels in red, green, blue order. This code would be used if they are supplied
as blue, green, red:
png_set_bgr(png_ptr);
PNG files describe monochrome as black being zero and white being one. This code would be used if the
pixels are supplied with this reversed (black being one and white being zero):
png_set_invert_mono(png_ptr);
Finally, you can write your own transformation function if none of the existing ones meets your needs.
This is done by setting a callback with
png_set_write_user_transform_fn(png_ptr,
write_transform_fn);
You must supply the function
void write_transform_fn(png_structp png_ptr, png_row_infop
row_info, png_bytep data)
See pngtest.c for a working example. Your function will be called before any of the other
transformations are processed. If supported libpng also supplies an information routine that may be
called from your callback:
png_get_current_row_number(png_ptr);
png_get_current_pass_number(png_ptr);
This returns the current row passed to the transform. With interlaced images the value returned is the
row in the input sub-image image. Use PNG_ROW_FROM_PASS_ROW(row, pass) and PNG_COL_FROM_PASS_COL(col,
pass) to find the output pixel (x,y) given an interlaced sub-image pixel (row,col,pass).
The discussion of interlace handling above contains more information on how to use these values.
You can also set up a pointer to a user structure for use by your callback function.
png_set_user_transform_info(png_ptr, user_ptr, 0, 0);
The user_channels and user_depth parameters of this function are ignored when writing; you can set them
to zero as shown.
You can retrieve the pointer via the function png_get_user_transform_ptr(). For example:
voidp write_user_transform_ptr =
png_get_user_transform_ptr(png_ptr);
It is possible to have libpng flush any pending output, either manually, or automatically after a certain
number of lines have been written. To flush the output stream a single time call:
png_write_flush(png_ptr);
and to have libpng flush the output stream periodically after a certain number of scanlines have been
written, call:
png_set_flush(png_ptr, nrows);
Note that the distance between rows is from the last time png_write_flush() was called, or the first row
of the image if it has never been called. So if you write 50 lines, and then png_set_flush 25, it will
flush the output on the next scanline, and every 25 lines thereafter, unless png_write_flush() is called
before 25 more lines have been written. If nrows is too small (less than about 10 lines for a 640 pixel
wide RGB image) the image compression may decrease noticeably (although this may be acceptable for real-
time applications). Infrequent flushing will only degrade the compression performance by a few percent
over images that do not use flushing.
Writing the image data
That's it for the transformations. Now you can write the image data. The simplest way to do this is in
one function call. If you have the whole image in memory, you can just call png_write_image() and libpng
will write the image. You will need to pass in an array of pointers to each row. This function
automatically handles interlacing, so you don't need to call png_set_interlace_handling() or call this
function multiple times, or any of that other stuff necessary with png_write_rows().
png_write_image(png_ptr, row_pointers);
where row_pointers is:
png_byte *row_pointers[height];
You can point to void or char or whatever you use for pixels.
If you don't want to write the whole image at once, you can use png_write_rows() instead. If the file is
not interlaced, this is simple:
png_write_rows(png_ptr, row_pointers,
number_of_rows);
row_pointers is the same as in the png_write_image() call.
If you are just writing one row at a time, you can do this with a single row_pointer instead of an array
of row_pointers:
png_bytep row_pointer = row;
png_write_row(png_ptr, row_pointer);
When the file is interlaced, things can get a good deal more complicated. The only currently (as of the
PNG Specification version 1.2, dated July 1999) defined interlacing scheme for PNG files is the "Adam7"
interlace scheme, that breaks down an image into seven smaller images of varying size. libpng will build
these images for you, or you can do them yourself. If you want to build them yourself, see the PNG
specification for details of which pixels to write when.
If you don't want libpng to handle the interlacing details, just use png_set_interlace_handling() and
call png_write_rows() the correct number of times to write all the sub-images
(png_set_interlace_handling() returns the number of sub-images.)
If you want libpng to build the sub-images, call this before you start writing any rows:
number_of_passes = png_set_interlace_handling(png_ptr);
This will return the number of passes needed. Currently, this is seven, but may change if another
interlace type is added.
Then write the complete image number_of_passes times.
png_write_rows(png_ptr, row_pointers, number_of_rows);
Think carefully before you write an interlaced image. Typically code that reads such images reads all
the image data into memory, uncompressed, before doing any processing. Only code that can display an
image on the fly can take advantage of the interlacing and even then the image has to be exactly the
correct size for the output device, because scaling an image requires adjacent pixels and these are not
available until all the passes have been read.
If you do write an interlaced image you will hardly ever need to handle the interlacing yourself. Call
png_set_interlace_handling() and use the approach described above.
The only time it is conceivable that you will really need to write an interlaced image pass-by-pass is
when you have read one pass by pass and made some pixel-by-pixel transformation to it, as described in
the read code above. In this case use the PNG_PASS_ROWS and PNG_PASS_COLS macros to determine the size
of each sub-image in turn and simply write the rows you obtained from the read code.
Finishing a sequential write
After you are finished writing the image, you should finish writing the file. If you are interested in
writing comments or time, you should pass an appropriately filled png_info pointer. If you are not
interested, you can pass NULL.
png_write_end(png_ptr, info_ptr);
When you are done, you can free all memory used by libpng like this:
png_destroy_write_struct(&png_ptr, &info_ptr);
It is also possible to individually free the info_ptr members that point to libpng-allocated storage with
the following function:
png_free_data(png_ptr, info_ptr, mask, seq)
mask - identifies data to be freed, a mask
containing the bitwise OR of one or
more of
PNG_FREE_PLTE, PNG_FREE_TRNS,
PNG_FREE_HIST, PNG_FREE_ICCP,
PNG_FREE_PCAL, PNG_FREE_ROWS,
PNG_FREE_SCAL, PNG_FREE_SPLT,
PNG_FREE_TEXT, PNG_FREE_UNKN,
or simply PNG_FREE_ALL
seq - sequence number of item to be freed
(-1 for all items)
This function may be safely called when the relevant storage has already been freed, or has not yet been
allocated, or was allocated by the user and not by libpng, and will in those cases do nothing. The
"seq" parameter is ignored if only one item of the selected data type, such as PLTE, is allowed. If
"seq" is not -1, and multiple items are allowed for the data type identified in the mask, such as text or
sPLT, only the n'th item in the structure is freed, where n is "seq".
If you allocated data such as a palette that you passed in to libpng with png_set_*, you must not free it
until just before the call to png_destroy_write_struct().
The default behavior is only to free data that was allocated internally by libpng. This can be changed,
so that libpng will not free the data, or so that it will free data that was allocated by the user with
png_malloc() or png_calloc() and passed in via a png_set_*() function, with
png_data_freer(png_ptr, info_ptr, freer, mask)
freer - one of
PNG_DESTROY_WILL_FREE_DATA
PNG_SET_WILL_FREE_DATA
PNG_USER_WILL_FREE_DATA
mask - which data elements are affected
same choices as in png_free_data()
For example, to transfer responsibility for some data from a read structure to a write structure, you
could use
png_data_freer(read_ptr, read_info_ptr,
PNG_USER_WILL_FREE_DATA,
PNG_FREE_PLTE|PNG_FREE_tRNS|PNG_FREE_hIST)
png_data_freer(write_ptr, write_info_ptr,
PNG_DESTROY_WILL_FREE_DATA,
PNG_FREE_PLTE|PNG_FREE_tRNS|PNG_FREE_hIST)
thereby briefly reassigning responsibility for freeing to the user but immediately afterwards reassigning
it once more to the write_destroy function. Having done this, it would then be safe to destroy the read
structure and continue to use the PLTE, tRNS, and hIST data in the write structure.
This function only affects data that has already been allocated. You can call this function before
calling after the png_set_*() functions to control whether the user or png_destroy_*() is supposed to
free the data. When the user assumes responsibility for libpng-allocated data, the application must use
png_free() to free it, and when the user transfers responsibility to libpng for data that the user has
allocated, the user must have used png_malloc() or png_calloc() to allocate it.
If you allocated text_ptr.text, text_ptr.lang, and text_ptr.translated_keyword separately, do not
transfer responsibility for freeing text_ptr to libpng, because when libpng fills a png_text structure it
combines these members with the key member, and png_free_data() will free only text_ptr.key. Similarly,
if you transfer responsibility for free'ing text_ptr from libpng to your application, your application
must not separately free those members. For a more compact example of writing a PNG image, see the file
example.c.
V. Simplified API
The simplified API, which became available in libpng-1.6.0, hides the details of both libpng and the PNG
file format itself. It allows PNG files to be read into a very limited number of in-memory bitmap
formats or to be written from the same formats. If these formats do not accommodate your needs then you
can, and should, use the more sophisticated APIs above - these support a wide variety of in-memory
formats and a wide variety of sophisticated transformations to those formats as well as a wide variety of
APIs to manipulate ancilliary information.
To read a PNG file using the simplified API:
1) Declare a 'png_image' structure (see below) on the stack, set the
version field to PNG_IMAGE_VERSION and the 'opaque' pointer to NULL
(this is REQUIRED, your program may crash if you don't do it.)
2) Call the appropriate png_image_begin_read... function.
3) Set the png_image 'format' member to the required sample format.
4) Allocate a buffer for the image and, if required, the color-map.
5) Call png_image_finish_read to read the image and, if required, the
color-map into your buffers.
There are no restrictions on the format of the PNG input itself; all valid color types, bit depths, and
interlace methods are acceptable, and the input image is transformed as necessary to the requested in-
memory format during the png_image_finish_read() step. The only caveat is that if you request a color-
mapped image from a PNG that is full-color or makes complex use of an alpha channel the transformation is
extremely lossy and the result may look terrible.
To write a PNG file using the simplified API:
1) Declare a 'png_image' structure on the stack and memset()
it to all zero.
2) Initialize the members of the structure that describe the
image, setting the 'format' member to the format of the
image samples.
3) Call the appropriate png_image_write... function with a
pointer to the image and, if necessary, the color-map to write
the PNG data.
png_image is a structure that describes the in-memory format of an image when it is being read or defines
the in-memory format of an image that you need to write. The "png_image" structure contains the
following members:
png_controlp opaque Initialize to NULL, free with png_image_free
png_uint_32 version Set to PNG_IMAGE_VERSION
png_uint_32 width Image width in pixels (columns)
png_uint_32 height Image height in pixels (rows)
png_uint_32 format Image format as defined below
png_uint_32 flags A bit mask containing informational flags
png_uint_32 colormap_entries; Number of entries in the color-map
png_uint_32 warning_or_error;
char message[64];
In the event of an error or warning the "warning_or_error" field will be set to a non-zero value and the
'message' field will contain a ' ' terminated string with the libpng error or warning message. If both
warnings and an error were encountered, only the error is recorded. If there are multiple warnings, only
the first one is recorded.
The upper 30 bits of the "warning_or_error" value are reserved; the low two bits contain a two bit code
such that a value more than 1 indicates a failure in the API just called:
0 - no warning or error
1 - warning
2 - error
3 - error preceded by warning
The pixels (samples) of the image have one to four channels whose components have original values in the
range 0 to 1.0:
1: A single gray or luminance channel (G).
2: A gray/luminance channel and an alpha channel (GA).
3: Three red, green, blue color channels (RGB).
4: Three color channels and an alpha channel (RGBA).
The channels are encoded in one of two ways:
a) As a small integer, value 0..255, contained in a single byte. For the alpha channel the original
value is simply value/255. For the color or luminance channels the value is encoded according to the
sRGB specification and matches the 8-bit format expected by typical display devices.
The color/gray channels are not scaled (pre-multiplied) by the alpha channel and are suitable for passing
to color management software.
b) As a value in the range 0..65535, contained in a 2-byte integer, in the native byte order of the
platform on which the application is running. All channels can be converted to the original value by
dividing by 65535; all channels are linear. Color channels use the RGB encoding (RGB end-points) of the
sRGB specification. This encoding is identified by the PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_LINEAR flag below.
When the simplified API needs to convert between sRGB and linear colorspaces, the actual sRGB transfer
curve defined in the sRGB specification (see the article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRGB) is used,
not the gamma=1/2.2 approximation used elsewhere in libpng.
When an alpha channel is present it is expected to denote pixel coverage of the color or luminance
channels and is returned as an associated alpha channel: the color/gray channels are scaled (pre-
multiplied) by the alpha value.
The samples are either contained directly in the image data, between 1 and 8 bytes per pixel according to
the encoding, or are held in a color-map indexed by bytes in the image data. In the case of a color-map
the color-map entries are individual samples, encoded as above, and the image data has one byte per pixel
to select the relevant sample from the color-map.
PNG_FORMAT_*
The #defines to be used in png_image::format. Each #define identifies a particular layout of channel
data and, if present, alpha values. There are separate defines for each of the two component encodings.
A format is built up using single bit flag values. All combinations are valid. Formats can be built up
from the flag values or you can use one of the predefined values below. When testing formats always use
the FORMAT_FLAG macros to test for individual features - future versions of the library may add new
flags.
When reading or writing color-mapped images the format should be set to the format of the entries in the
color-map then png_image_{read,write}_colormap called to read or write the color-map and set the format
correctly for the image data. Do not set the PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLORMAP bit directly!
NOTE: libpng can be built with particular features disabled. If you see compiler errors because the
definition of one of the following flags has been compiled out it is because libpng does not have the
required support. It is possible, however, for the libpng configuration to enable the format on just
read or just write; in that case you may see an error at run time. You can guard against this by
checking for the definition of the appropriate "_SUPPORTED" macro, one of:
PNG_SIMPLIFIED_{READ,WRITE}_{BGR,AFIRST}_SUPPORTED
PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_ALPHA format with an alpha channel
PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLOR color format: otherwise grayscale
PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_LINEAR 2-byte channels else 1-byte
PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLORMAP image data is color-mapped
PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_BGR BGR colors, else order is RGB
PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_AFIRST alpha channel comes first
Supported formats are as follows. Future versions of libpng may support more formats; for compatibility
with older versions simply check if the format macro is defined using #ifdef. These defines describe the
in-memory layout of the components of the pixels of the image.
First the single byte (sRGB) formats:
PNG_FORMAT_GRAY
PNG_FORMAT_GA
PNG_FORMAT_AG
PNG_FORMAT_RGB
PNG_FORMAT_BGR
PNG_FORMAT_RGBA
PNG_FORMAT_ARGB
PNG_FORMAT_BGRA
PNG_FORMAT_ABGR
Then the linear 2-byte formats. When naming these "Y" is used to indicate a luminance (gray) channel.
The component order within the pixel is always the same - there is no provision for swapping the order of
the components in the linear format. The components are 16-bit integers in the native byte order for
your platform, and there is no provision for swapping the bytes to a different endian condition.
PNG_FORMAT_LINEAR_Y
PNG_FORMAT_LINEAR_Y_ALPHA
PNG_FORMAT_LINEAR_RGB
PNG_FORMAT_LINEAR_RGB_ALPHA
With color-mapped formats the image data is one byte for each pixel. The byte is an index into the color-
map which is formatted as above. To obtain a color-mapped format it is sufficient just to add the
PNG_FOMAT_FLAG_COLORMAP to one of the above definitions, or you can use one of the definitions below.
PNG_FORMAT_RGB_COLORMAP
PNG_FORMAT_BGR_COLORMAP
PNG_FORMAT_RGBA_COLORMAP
PNG_FORMAT_ARGB_COLORMAP
PNG_FORMAT_BGRA_COLORMAP
PNG_FORMAT_ABGR_COLORMAP
PNG_IMAGE macros
These are convenience macros to derive information from a png_image structure. The PNG_IMAGE_SAMPLE_
macros return values appropriate to the actual image sample values - either the entries in the color-map
or the pixels in the image. The PNG_IMAGE_PIXEL_ macros return corresponding values for the pixels and
will always return 1 for color-mapped formats. The remaining macros return information about the rows in
the image and the complete image.
NOTE: All the macros that take a png_image::format parameter are compile time constants if the format
parameter is, itself, a constant. Therefore these macros can be used in array declarations and case
labels where required. Similarly the macros are also pre-processor constants (sizeof is not used) so
they can be used in #if tests.
PNG_IMAGE_SAMPLE_CHANNELS(fmt)
Returns the total number of channels in a given format: 1..4
PNG_IMAGE_SAMPLE_COMPONENT_SIZE(fmt)
Returns the size in bytes of a single component of a pixel or color-map
entry (as appropriate) in the image: 1 or 2.
PNG_IMAGE_SAMPLE_SIZE(fmt)
This is the size of the sample data for one sample. If the image is
color-mapped it is the size of one color-map entry (and image pixels are
one byte in size), otherwise it is the size of one image pixel.
PNG_IMAGE_MAXIMUM_COLORMAP_COMPONENTS(fmt)
The maximum size of the color-map required by the format expressed in a
count of components. This can be used to compile-time allocate a
color-map:
png_uint_16 colormap[PNG_IMAGE_MAXIMUM_COLORMAP_COMPONENTS(linear_fmt)];
png_byte colormap[PNG_IMAGE_MAXIMUM_COLORMAP_COMPONENTS(sRGB_fmt)];
Alternatively use the PNG_IMAGE_COLORMAP_SIZE macro below to use the
information from one of the png_image_begin_read_ APIs and dynamically
allocate the required memory.
PNG_IMAGE_COLORMAP_SIZE(fmt)
The size of the color-map required by the format; this is the size of the
color-map buffer passed to the png_image_{read,write}_colormap APIs. It is
a fixed number determined by the format so can easily be allocated on the
stack if necessary.
Corresponding information about the pixels
PNG_IMAGE_PIXEL_CHANNELS(fmt)
The number of separate channels (components) in a pixel; 1 for a
color-mapped image.
PNG_IMAGE_PIXEL_COMPONENT_SIZE(fmt) The size, in bytes, of each component in a pixel; 1 for a color-
mapped
image.
PNG_IMAGE_PIXEL_SIZE(fmt)
The size, in bytes, of a complete pixel; 1 for a color-mapped image.
Information about the whole row, or whole image
PNG_IMAGE_ROW_STRIDE(image)
Returns the total number of components in a single row of the image; this
is the minimum 'row stride', the minimum count of components between each
row. For a color-mapped image this is the minimum number of bytes in a
row.
If you need the stride measured in bytes, row_stride_bytes is
PNG_IMAGE_ROW_STRIDE(image) * PNG_IMAGE_PIXEL_COMPONENT_SIZE(fmt)
plus any padding bytes that your application might need, for example
to start the next row on a 4-byte boundary.
PNG_IMAGE_BUFFER_SIZE(image, row_stride)
Return the size, in bytes, of an image buffer given a png_image and a row
stride - the number of components to leave space for in each row.
PNG_IMAGE_SIZE(image)
Return the size, in bytes, of the image in memory given just a png_image;
the row stride is the minimum stride required for the image.
PNG_IMAGE_COLORMAP_SIZE(image)
Return the size, in bytes, of the color-map of this image. If the image
format is not a color-map format this will return a size sufficient for
256 entries in the given format; check PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLORMAP if
you don't want to allocate a color-map in this case.
PNG_IMAGE_FLAG_*
Flags containing additional information about the image are held in the 'flags' field of png_image.
PNG_IMAGE_FLAG_COLORSPACE_NOT_sRGB == 0x01
This indicates the the RGB values of the in-memory bitmap do not
correspond to the red, green and blue end-points defined by sRGB.
PNG_IMAGE_FLAG_FAST == 0x02
On write emphasise speed over compression; the resultant PNG file will be
larger but will be produced significantly faster, particular for large
images. Do not use this option for images which will be distributed, only
used it when producing intermediate files that will be read back in
repeatedly. For a typical 24-bit image the option will double the read
speed at the cost of increasing the image size by 25%, however for many
more compressible images the PNG file can be 10 times larger with only a
slight speed gain.
PNG_IMAGE_FLAG_16BIT_sRGB == 0x04
On read if the image is a 16-bit per component image and there is no gAMA
or sRGB chunk assume that the components are sRGB encoded. Notice that
images output by the simplified API always have gamma information; setting
this flag only affects the interpretation of 16-bit images from an
external source. It is recommended that the application expose this flag
to the user; the user can normally easily recognize the difference between
linear and sRGB encoding. This flag has no effect on write - the data
passed to the write APIs must have the correct encoding (as defined
above.)
If the flag is not set (the default) input 16-bit per component data is
assumed to be linear.
NOTE: the flag can only be set after the png_image_begin_read_ call,
because that call initializes the 'flags' field.
READ APIs
The png_image passed to the read APIs must have been initialized by setting
the png_controlp field 'opaque' to NULL (or, better, memset the whole thing.)
int png_image_begin_read_from_file( png_imagep image,
const char *file_name)
The named file is opened for read and the image header
is filled in from the PNG header in the file.
int png_image_begin_read_from_stdio (png_imagep image,
FILE* file)
The PNG header is read from the stdio FILE object.
int png_image_begin_read_from_memory(png_imagep image,
png_const_voidp memory, png_size_t size)
The PNG header is read from the given memory buffer.
int png_image_finish_read(png_imagep image,
png_colorp background, void *buffer,
png_int_32 row_stride, void *colormap));
Finish reading the image into the supplied buffer and
clean up the png_image structure.
row_stride is the step, in png_byte or png_uint_16 units
as appropriate, between adjacent rows. A positive stride
indicates that the top-most row is first in the buffer -
the normal top-down arrangement. A negative stride
indicates that the bottom-most row is first in the buffer.
background need only be supplied if an alpha channel must
be removed from a png_byte format and the removal is to be
done by compositing on a solid color; otherwise it may be
NULL and any composition will be done directly onto the
buffer. The value is an sRGB color to use for the
background, for grayscale output the green channel is used.
For linear output removing the alpha channel is always done
by compositing on black.
void png_image_free(png_imagep image)
Free any data allocated by libpng in image->opaque,
setting the pointer to NULL. May be called at any time
after the structure is initialized.
When the simplified API needs to convert between sRGB and linear colorspaces, the actual sRGB transfer
curve defined in the sRGB specification (see the article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRGB) is used,
not the gamma=1/2.2 approximation used elsewhere in libpng.
WRITE APIS
For write you must initialize a png_image structure to describe the image to be written:
version: must be set to PNG_IMAGE_VERSION
opaque: must be initialized to NULL
width: image width in pixels
height: image height in rows
format: the format of the data you wish to write
flags: set to 0 unless one of the defined flags applies; set
PNG_IMAGE_FLAG_COLORSPACE_NOT_sRGB for color format images
where the RGB values do not correspond to the colors in sRGB.
colormap_entries: set to the number of entries in the color-map (0 to 256)
int png_image_write_to_file, (png_imagep image,
const char *file, int convert_to_8bit, const void *buffer,
png_int_32 row_stride, const void *colormap));
Write the image to the named file.
int png_image_write_to_stdio(png_imagep image, FILE *file,
int convert_to_8_bit, const void *buffer,
png_int_32 row_stride, const void *colormap)
Write the image to the given (FILE*).
With all write APIs if image is in one of the linear formats with (png_uint_16) data then setting
convert_to_8_bit will cause the output to be a (png_byte) PNG gamma encoded according to the sRGB
specification, otherwise a 16-bit linear encoded PNG file is written.
With all APIs row_stride is handled as in the read APIs - it is the spacing from one row to the next in
component sized units (float) and if negative indicates a bottom-up row layout in the buffer. If you
pass zero, libpng will calculate the row_stride for you from the width and number of channels.
Note that the write API does not support interlacing, sub-8-bit pixels, indexed (paletted) images, or
most ancillary chunks.
VI. Modifying/Customizing libpng
There are two issues here. The first is changing how libpng does standard things like memory allocation,
input/output, and error handling. The second deals with more complicated things like adding new chunks,
adding new transformations, and generally changing how libpng works. Both of those are compile-time
issues; that is, they are generally determined at the time the code is written, and there is rarely a
need to provide the user with a means of changing them.
Memory allocation, input/output, and error handling
All of the memory allocation, input/output, and error handling in libpng goes through callbacks that are
user-settable. The default routines are in pngmem.c, pngrio.c, pngwio.c, and pngerror.c, respectively.
To change these functions, call the appropriate png_set_*_fn() function.
Memory allocation is done through the functions png_malloc(), png_calloc(), and png_free(). The
png_malloc() and png_free() functions currently just call the standard C functions and png_calloc() calls
png_malloc() and then clears the newly allocated memory to zero; note that png_calloc(png_ptr, size) is
not the same as the calloc(number, size) function provided by stdlib.h. There is limited support for
certain systems with segmented memory architectures and the types of pointers declared by png.h match
this; you will have to use appropriate pointers in your application. If you prefer to use a different
method of allocating and freeing data, you can use png_create_read_struct_2() or
png_create_write_struct_2() to register your own functions as described above. These functions also
provide a void pointer that can be retrieved via
mem_ptr=png_get_mem_ptr(png_ptr);
Your replacement memory functions must have prototypes as follows:
png_voidp malloc_fn(png_structp png_ptr,
png_alloc_size_t size);
void free_fn(png_structp png_ptr, png_voidp ptr);
Your malloc_fn() must return NULL in case of failure. The png_malloc() function will normally call
png_error() if it receives a NULL from the system memory allocator or from your replacement malloc_fn().
Your free_fn() will never be called with a NULL ptr, since libpng's png_free() checks for NULL before
calling free_fn().
Input/Output in libpng is done through png_read() and png_write(), which currently just call fread() and
fwrite(). The FILE * is stored in png_struct and is initialized via png_init_io(). If you wish to
change the method of I/O, the library supplies callbacks that you can set through the function
png_set_read_fn() and png_set_write_fn() at run time, instead of calling the png_init_io() function.
These functions also provide a void pointer that can be retrieved via the function png_get_io_ptr(). For
example:
png_set_read_fn(png_structp read_ptr,
voidp read_io_ptr, png_rw_ptr read_data_fn)
png_set_write_fn(png_structp write_ptr,
voidp write_io_ptr, png_rw_ptr write_data_fn,
png_flush_ptr output_flush_fn);
voidp read_io_ptr = png_get_io_ptr(read_ptr);
voidp write_io_ptr = png_get_io_ptr(write_ptr);
The replacement I/O functions must have prototypes as follows:
void user_read_data(png_structp png_ptr,
png_bytep data, png_size_t length);
void user_write_data(png_structp png_ptr,
png_bytep data, png_size_t length);
void user_flush_data(png_structp png_ptr);
The user_read_data() function is responsible for detecting and handling end-of-data errors.
Supplying NULL for the read, write, or flush functions sets them back to using the default C stream
functions, which expect the io_ptr to point to a standard *FILE structure. It is probably a mistake to
use NULL for one of write_data_fn and output_flush_fn but not both of them, unless you have built libpng
with PNG_NO_WRITE_FLUSH defined. It is an error to read from a write stream, and vice versa.
Error handling in libpng is done through png_error() and png_warning(). Errors handled through
png_error() are fatal, meaning that png_error() should never return to its caller. Currently, this is
handled via setjmp() and longjmp() (unless you have compiled libpng with PNG_NO_SETJMP, in which case it
is handled via PNG_ABORT()), but you could change this to do things like exit() if you should wish, as
long as your function does not return.
On non-fatal errors, png_warning() is called to print a warning message, and then control returns to the
calling code. By default png_error() and png_warning() print a message on stderr via fprintf() unless
the library is compiled with PNG_NO_CONSOLE_IO defined (because you don't want the messages) or
PNG_NO_STDIO defined (because fprintf() isn't available). If you wish to change the behavior of the
error functions, you will need to set up your own message callbacks. These functions are normally
supplied at the time that the png_struct is created. It is also possible to redirect errors and warnings
to your own replacement functions after png_create_*_struct() has been called by calling:
png_set_error_fn(png_structp png_ptr,
png_voidp error_ptr, png_error_ptr error_fn,
png_error_ptr warning_fn);
png_voidp error_ptr = png_get_error_ptr(png_ptr);
If NULL is supplied for either error_fn or warning_fn, then the libpng default function will be used,
calling fprintf() and/or longjmp() if a problem is encountered. The replacement error functions should
have parameters as follows:
void user_error_fn(png_structp png_ptr,
png_const_charp error_msg);
void user_warning_fn(png_structp png_ptr,
png_const_charp warning_msg);
The motivation behind using setjmp() and longjmp() is the C++ throw and catch exception handling methods.
This makes the code much easier to write, as there is no need to check every return code of every
function call. However, there are some uncertainties about the status of local variables after a
longjmp, so the user may want to be careful about doing anything after setjmp returns non-zero besides
returning itself. Consult your compiler documentation for more details. For an alternative approach,
you may wish to use the "cexcept" facility (see http://cexcept.sourceforge.net), which is illustrated in
pngvalid.c and in contrib/visupng.
Beginning in libpng-1.4.0, the png_set_benign_errors() API became available. You can use this to handle
certain errors (normally handled as errors) as warnings.
png_set_benign_errors (png_ptr, int allowed);
allowed: 0: treat png_benign_error() as an error.
1: treat png_benign_error() as a warning.
As of libpng-1.6.0, the default condition is to treat benign errors as warnings while reading and as
errors while writing.
Custom chunks
If you need to read or write custom chunks, you may need to get deeper into the libpng code. The library
now has mechanisms for storing and writing chunks of unknown type; you can even declare callbacks for
custom chunks. However, this may not be good enough if the library code itself needs to know about
interactions between your chunk and existing `intrinsic' chunks.
If you need to write a new intrinsic chunk, first read the PNG specification. Acquire a first level of
understanding of how it works. Pay particular attention to the sections that describe chunk names, and
look at how other chunks were designed, so you can do things similarly. Second, check out the sections
of libpng that read and write chunks. Try to find a chunk that is similar to yours and use it as a
template. More details can be found in the comments inside the code. It is best to handle private or
unknown chunks in a generic method, via callback functions, instead of by modifying libpng functions.
This is illustrated in pngtest.c, which uses a callback function to handle a private "vpAg" chunk and the
new "sTER" chunk, which are both unknown to libpng.
If you wish to write your own transformation for the data, look through the part of the code that does
the transformations, and check out some of the simpler ones to get an idea of how they work. Try to find
a similar transformation to the one you want to add and copy off of it. More details can be found in the
comments inside the code itself.
Configuring for gui/windowing platforms:
You will need to write new error and warning functions that use the GUI interface, as described
previously, and set them to be the error and warning functions at the time that png_create_*_struct() is
called, in order to have them available during the structure initialization. They can be changed later
via png_set_error_fn(). On some compilers, you may also have to change the memory allocators
(png_malloc, etc.).
Configuring zlib:
There are special functions to configure the compression. Perhaps the most useful one changes the
compression level, which currently uses input compression values in the range 0 - 9. The library
normally uses the default compression level (Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION = 6). Tests have shown that for a
large majority of images, compression values in the range 3-6 compress nearly as well as higher levels,
and do so much faster. For online applications it may be desirable to have maximum speed (Z_BEST_SPEED =
1). With versions of zlib after v0.99, you can also specify no compression (Z_NO_COMPRESSION = 0), but
this would create files larger than just storing the raw bitmap. You can specify the compression level
by calling:
#include zlib.h
png_set_compression_level(png_ptr, level);
Another useful one is to reduce the memory level used by the library. The memory level defaults to 8,
but it can be lowered if you are short on memory (running DOS, for example, where you only have 640K).
Note that the memory level does have an effect on compression; among other things, lower levels will
result in sections of incompressible data being emitted in smaller stored blocks, with a correspondingly
larger relative overhead of up to 15% in the worst case.
#include zlib.h
png_set_compression_mem_level(png_ptr, level);
The other functions are for configuring zlib. They are not recommended for normal use and may result in
writing an invalid PNG file. See zlib.h for more information on what these mean.
#include zlib.h
png_set_compression_strategy(png_ptr,
strategy);
png_set_compression_window_bits(png_ptr,
window_bits);
png_set_compression_method(png_ptr, method);
This controls the size of the IDAT chunks (default 8192):
png_set_compression_buffer_size(png_ptr, size);
As of libpng version 1.5.4, additional APIs became available to set these separately for non-IDAT
compressed chunks such as zTXt, iTXt, and iCCP:
#include zlib.h
#if PNG_LIBPNG_VER >= 10504
png_set_text_compression_level(png_ptr, level);
png_set_text_compression_mem_level(png_ptr, level);
png_set_text_compression_strategy(png_ptr,
strategy);
png_set_text_compression_window_bits(png_ptr,
window_bits);
png_set_text_compression_method(png_ptr, method);
#endif
Controlling row filtering
If you want to control whether libpng uses filtering or not, which filters are used, and how it goes
about picking row filters, you can call one of these functions. The selection and configuration of row
filters can have a significant impact on the size and encoding speed and a somewhat lesser impact on the
decoding speed of an image. Filtering is enabled by default for RGB and grayscale images (with and
without alpha), but not for paletted images nor for any images with bit depths less than 8 bits/pixel.
The 'method' parameter sets the main filtering method, which is currently only '0' in the PNG 1.2
specification. The 'filters' parameter sets which filter(s), if any, should be used for each scanline.
Possible values are PNG_ALL_FILTERS and PNG_NO_FILTERS to turn filtering on and off, respectively.
Individual filter types are PNG_FILTER_NONE, PNG_FILTER_SUB, PNG_FILTER_UP, PNG_FILTER_AVG,
PNG_FILTER_PAETH, which can be bitwise ORed together with '|' to specify one or more filters to use.
These filters are described in more detail in the PNG specification. If you intend to change the filter
type during the course of writing the image, you should start with flags set for all of the filters you
intend to use so that libpng can initialize its internal structures appropriately for all of the filter
types. (Note that this means the first row must always be adaptively filtered, because libpng currently
does not allocate the filter buffers until png_write_row() is called for the first time.)
filters = PNG_FILTER_NONE | PNG_FILTER_SUB
PNG_FILTER_UP | PNG_FILTER_AVG |
PNG_FILTER_PAETH | PNG_ALL_FILTERS;
png_set_filter(png_ptr, PNG_FILTER_TYPE_BASE,
filters);
The second parameter can also be
PNG_INTRAPIXEL_DIFFERENCING if you are
writing a PNG to be embedded in a MNG
datastream. This parameter must be the
same as the value of filter_method used
in png_set_IHDR().
Requesting debug printout
The macro definition PNG_DEBUG can be used to request debugging printout. Set it to an integer value in
the range 0 to 3. Higher numbers result in increasing amounts of debugging information. The information
is printed to the "stderr" file, unless another file name is specified in the PNG_DEBUG_FILE macro
definition.
When PNG_DEBUG > 0, the following functions (macros) become available:
png_debug(level, message)
png_debug1(level, message, p1)
png_debug2(level, message, p1, p2)
in which "level" is compared to PNG_DEBUG to decide whether to print the message, "message" is the
formatted string to be printed, and p1 and p2 are parameters that are to be embedded in the string
according to printf-style formatting directives. For example,
png_debug1(2, "foo=%d", foo);
is expanded to
if (PNG_DEBUG > 2)
fprintf(PNG_DEBUG_FILE, "foo=%d\n", foo);
When PNG_DEBUG is defined but is zero, the macros aren't defined, but you can still use PNG_DEBUG to
control your own debugging:
#ifdef PNG_DEBUG
fprintf(stderr, ...
#endif
When PNG_DEBUG = 1, the macros are defined, but only png_debug statements having level = 0 will be
printed. There aren't any such statements in this version of libpng, but if you insert some they will be
printed.
VII. MNG support
The MNG specification (available at http://www.libpng.org/pub/mng) allows certain extensions to PNG for
PNG images that are embedded in MNG datastreams. Libpng can support some of these extensions. To enable
them, use the png_permit_mng_features() function:
feature_set = png_permit_mng_features(png_ptr, mask)
mask is a png_uint_32 containing the bitwise OR of the
features you want to enable. These include
PNG_FLAG_MNG_EMPTY_PLTE
PNG_FLAG_MNG_FILTER_64
PNG_ALL_MNG_FEATURES
feature_set is a png_uint_32 that is the bitwise AND of
your mask with the set of MNG features that is
supported by the version of libpng that you are using.
It is an error to use this function when reading or writing a standalone PNG file with the PNG 8-byte
signature. The PNG datastream must be wrapped in a MNG datastream. As a minimum, it must have the MNG
8-byte signature and the MHDR and MEND chunks. Libpng does not provide support for these or any other
MNG chunks; your application must provide its own support for them. You may wish to consider using
libmng (available at http://www.libmng.com) instead.
VIII. Changes to Libpng from version 0.88
It should be noted that versions of libpng later than 0.96 are not distributed by the original libpng
author, Guy Schalnat, nor by Andreas Dilger, who had taken over from Guy during 1996 and 1997, and
distributed versions 0.89 through 0.96, but rather by another member of the original PNG Group, Glenn
Randers-Pehrson. Guy and Andreas are still alive and well, but they have moved on to other things.
The old libpng functions png_read_init(), png_write_init(), png_info_init(), png_read_destroy(), and
png_write_destroy() have been moved to PNG_INTERNAL in version 0.95 to discourage their use. These
functions will be removed from libpng version 1.4.0.
The preferred method of creating and initializing the libpng structures is via the
png_create_read_struct(), png_create_write_struct(), and png_create_info_struct() because they isolate
the size of the structures from the application, allow version error checking, and also allow the use of
custom error handling routines during the initialization, which the old functions do not. The functions
png_read_destroy() and png_write_destroy() do not actually free the memory that libpng allocated for
these structs, but just reset the data structures, so they can be used instead of
png_destroy_read_struct() and png_destroy_write_struct() if you feel there is too much system overhead
allocating and freeing the png_struct for each image read.
Setting the error callbacks via png_set_message_fn() before png_read_init() as was suggested in
libpng-0.88 is no longer supported because this caused applications that do not use custom error
functions to fail if the png_ptr was not initialized to zero. It is still possible to set the error
callbacks AFTER png_read_init(), or to change them with png_set_error_fn(), which is essentially the same
function, but with a new name to force compilation errors with applications that try to use the old
method.
Support for the sCAL, iCCP, iTXt, and sPLT chunks was added at libpng-1.0.6; however, iTXt support was
not enabled by default.
Starting with version 1.0.7, you can find out which version of the library you are using at run-time:
png_uint_32 libpng_vn = png_access_version_number();
The number libpng_vn is constructed from the major version, minor version with leading zero, and release
number with leading zero, (e.g., libpng_vn for version 1.0.7 is 10007).
Note that this function does not take a png_ptr, so you can call it before you've created one.
You can also check which version of png.h you used when compiling your application:
png_uint_32 application_vn = PNG_LIBPNG_VER;
IX. Changes to Libpng from version 1.0.x to 1.2.x
Support for user memory management was enabled by default. To accomplish this, the functions
png_create_read_struct_2(), png_create_write_struct_2(), png_set_mem_fn(), png_get_mem_ptr(),
png_malloc_default(), and png_free_default() were added.
Support for the iTXt chunk has been enabled by default as of version 1.2.41.
Support for certain MNG features was enabled.
Support for numbered error messages was added. However, we never got around to actually numbering the
error messages. The function png_set_strip_error_numbers() was added (Note: the prototype for this
function was inadvertently removed from png.h in PNG_NO_ASSEMBLER_CODE builds of libpng-1.2.15. It was
restored in libpng-1.2.36).
The png_malloc_warn() function was added at libpng-1.2.3. This issues a png_warning and returns NULL
instead of aborting when it fails to acquire the requested memory allocation.
Support for setting user limits on image width and height was enabled by default. The functions
png_set_user_limits(), png_get_user_width_max(), and png_get_user_height_max() were added at
libpng-1.2.6.
The png_set_add_alpha() function was added at libpng-1.2.7.
The function png_set_expand_gray_1_2_4_to_8() was added at libpng-1.2.9. Unlike
png_set_gray_1_2_4_to_8(), the new function does not expand the tRNS chunk to alpha. The
png_set_gray_1_2_4_to_8() function is deprecated.
A number of macro definitions in support of runtime selection of assembler code features (especially
Intel MMX code support) were added at libpng-1.2.0:
PNG_ASM_FLAG_MMX_SUPPORT_COMPILED
PNG_ASM_FLAG_MMX_SUPPORT_IN_CPU
PNG_ASM_FLAG_MMX_READ_COMBINE_ROW
PNG_ASM_FLAG_MMX_READ_INTERLACE
PNG_ASM_FLAG_MMX_READ_FILTER_SUB
PNG_ASM_FLAG_MMX_READ_FILTER_UP
PNG_ASM_FLAG_MMX_READ_FILTER_AVG
PNG_ASM_FLAG_MMX_READ_FILTER_PAETH
PNG_ASM_FLAGS_INITIALIZED
PNG_MMX_READ_FLAGS
PNG_MMX_FLAGS
PNG_MMX_WRITE_FLAGS
PNG_MMX_FLAGS
We added the following functions in support of runtime selection of assembler code features:
png_get_mmx_flagmask()
png_set_mmx_thresholds()
png_get_asm_flags()
png_get_mmx_bitdepth_threshold()
png_get_mmx_rowbytes_threshold()
png_set_asm_flags()
We replaced all of these functions with simple stubs in libpng-1.2.20, when the Intel assembler code was
removed due to a licensing issue.
These macros are deprecated:
PNG_READ_TRANSFORMS_NOT_SUPPORTED
PNG_PROGRESSIVE_READ_NOT_SUPPORTED
PNG_NO_SEQUENTIAL_READ_SUPPORTED
PNG_WRITE_TRANSFORMS_NOT_SUPPORTED
PNG_READ_ANCILLARY_CHUNKS_NOT_SUPPORTED
PNG_WRITE_ANCILLARY_CHUNKS_NOT_SUPPORTED
They have been replaced, respectively, by:
PNG_NO_READ_TRANSFORMS
PNG_NO_PROGRESSIVE_READ
PNG_NO_SEQUENTIAL_READ
PNG_NO_WRITE_TRANSFORMS
PNG_NO_READ_ANCILLARY_CHUNKS
PNG_NO_WRITE_ANCILLARY_CHUNKS
PNG_MAX_UINT was replaced with PNG_UINT_31_MAX. It has been deprecated since libpng-1.0.16 and
libpng-1.2.6.
The function
png_check_sig(sig, num) was replaced with
!png_sig_cmp(sig, 0, num) It has been deprecated since libpng-0.90.
The function
png_set_gray_1_2_4_to_8() which also expands tRNS to alpha was replaced with
png_set_expand_gray_1_2_4_to_8() which does not. It has been deprecated since libpng-1.0.18 and
1.2.9.
X. Changes to Libpng from version 1.0.x/1.2.x to 1.4.x
Private libpng prototypes and macro definitions were moved from png.h and pngconf.h into a new pngpriv.h
header file.
Functions png_set_benign_errors(), png_benign_error(), and png_chunk_benign_error() were added.
Support for setting the maximum amount of memory that the application will allocate for reading chunks
was added, as a security measure. The functions png_set_chunk_cache_max() and png_get_chunk_cache_max()
were added to the library.
We implemented support for I/O states by adding png_ptr member io_state and functions
png_get_io_chunk_name() and png_get_io_state() in pngget.c
We added PNG_TRANSFORM_GRAY_TO_RGB to the available high-level input transforms.
Checking for and reporting of errors in the IHDR chunk is more thorough.
Support for global arrays was removed, to improve thread safety.
Some obsolete/deprecated macros and functions have been removed.
Typecasted NULL definitions such as
#define png_voidp_NULL (png_voidp)NULL were eliminated. If you used these in your
application, just use NULL instead.
The png_struct and info_struct members "trans" and "trans_values" were changed to "trans_alpha" and
"trans_color", respectively.
The obsolete, unused pnggccrd.c and pngvcrd.c files and related makefiles were removed.
The PNG_1_0_X and PNG_1_2_X macros were eliminated.
The PNG_LEGACY_SUPPORTED macro was eliminated.
Many WIN32_WCE #ifdefs were removed.
The functions png_read_init(info_ptr), png_write_init(info_ptr), png_info_init(info_ptr),
png_read_destroy(), and png_write_destroy() have been removed. They have been deprecated since
libpng-0.95.
The png_permit_empty_plte() was removed. It has been deprecated since libpng-1.0.9. Use
png_permit_mng_features() instead.
We removed the obsolete stub functions png_get_mmx_flagmask(), png_set_mmx_thresholds(),
png_get_asm_flags(), png_get_mmx_bitdepth_threshold(), png_get_mmx_rowbytes_threshold(),
png_set_asm_flags(), and png_mmx_supported()
We removed the obsolete png_check_sig(), png_memcpy_check(), and png_memset_check() functions. Instead
use !png_sig_cmp(), memcpy(), and memset(), respectively.
The function png_set_gray_1_2_4_to_8() was removed. It has been deprecated since libpng-1.0.18 and 1.2.9,
when it was replaced with png_set_expand_gray_1_2_4_to_8() because the former function also expanded any
tRNS chunk to an alpha channel.
Macros for png_get_uint_16, png_get_uint_32, and png_get_int_32 were added and are used by default
instead of the corresponding functions. Unfortunately, from libpng-1.4.0 until 1.4.4, the png_get_uint_16
macro (but not the function) incorrectly returned a value of type png_uint_32.
We changed the prototype for png_malloc() from
png_malloc(png_structp png_ptr, png_uint_32 size) to
png_malloc(png_structp png_ptr, png_alloc_size_t size)
This also applies to the prototype for the user replacement malloc_fn().
The png_calloc() function was added and is used in place of of "png_malloc(); memset();" except in the
case in png_read_png() where the array consists of pointers; in this case a "for" loop is used after the
png_malloc() to set the pointers to NULL, to give robust. behavior in case the application runs out of
memory part-way through the process.
We changed the prototypes of png_get_compression_buffer_size() and png_set_compression_buffer_size() to
work with png_size_t instead of png_uint_32.
Support for numbered error messages was removed by default, since we never got around to actually
numbering the error messages. The function png_set_strip_error_numbers() was removed from the library by
default.
The png_zalloc() and png_zfree() functions are no longer exported. The png_zalloc() function no longer
zeroes out the memory that it allocates. Applications that called png_zalloc(png_ptr, number, size) can
call png_calloc(png_ptr, number*size) instead, and can call png_free() instead of png_zfree().
Support for dithering was disabled by default in libpng-1.4.0, because it has not been well tested and
doesn't actually "dither". The code was not removed, however, and could be enabled by building libpng
with PNG_READ_DITHER_SUPPORTED defined. In libpng-1.4.2, this support was re-enabled, but the function
was renamed png_set_quantize() to reflect more accurately what it actually does. At the same time, the
PNG_DITHER_[RED,GREEN_BLUE]_BITS macros were also renamed to PNG_QUANTIZE_[RED,GREEN,BLUE]_BITS, and
PNG_READ_DITHER_SUPPORTED was renamed to PNG_READ_QUANTIZE_SUPPORTED.
We removed the trailing '.' from the warning and error messages.
XI. Changes to Libpng from version 1.4.x to 1.5.x
From libpng-1.4.0 until 1.4.4, the png_get_uint_16 macro (but not the function) incorrectly returned a
value of type png_uint_32. The incorrect macro was removed from libpng-1.4.5.
Checking for invalid palette index on write was added at libpng 1.5.10. If a pixel contains an invalid
(out-of-range) index libpng issues a benign error. This is enabled by default because this condition is
an error according to the PNG specification, Clause 11.3.2, but the error can be ignored in each png_ptr
with
png_set_check_for_invalid_index(png_ptr, allowed);
allowed - one of
0: disable benign error (accept the
invalid data without warning).
1: enable benign error (treat the
invalid data as an error or a
warning).
If the error is ignored, or if png_benign_error() treats it as a warning, any invalid pixels are decoded
as opaque black by the decoder and written as-is by the encoder.
Retrieving the maximum palette index found was added at libpng-1.5.15. This statement must appear after
png_read_png() or png_read_image() while reading, and after png_write_png() or png_write_image() while
writing.
int max_palette = png_get_palette_max(png_ptr, info_ptr);
This will return the maximum palette index found in the image, or "-1" if the palette was not checked, or
"0" if no palette was found. Note that this does not account for any palette index used by ancillary
chunks such as the bKGD chunk; you must check those separately to determine the maximum palette index
actually used.
There are no substantial API changes between the non-deprecated parts of the 1.4.5 API and the 1.5.0 API;
however, the ability to directly access members of the main libpng control structures, png_struct and
png_info, deprecated in earlier versions of libpng, has been completely removed from libpng 1.5.
We no longer include zlib.h in png.h. The include statement has been moved to pngstruct.h, where it is
not accessible by applications. Applications that need access to information in zlib.h will need to add
the '#include "zlib.h"' directive. It does not matter whether this is placed prior to or after the
'"#include png.h"' directive.
The png_sprintf(), png_strcpy(), and png_strncpy() macros are no longer used and were removed.
We moved the png_strlen(), png_memcpy(), png_memset(), and png_memcmp() macros into a private header file
(pngpriv.h) that is not accessible to applications.
In png_get_iCCP, the type of "profile" was changed from png_charpp to png_bytepp, and in png_set_iCCP,
from png_charp to png_const_bytep.
There are changes of form in png.h, including new and changed macros to declare parts of the API. Some
API functions with arguments that are pointers to data not modified within the function have been
corrected to declare these arguments with PNG_CONST.
Much of the internal use of C macros to control the library build has also changed and some of this is
visible in the exported header files, in particular the use of macros to control data and API elements
visible during application compilation may require significant revision to application code. (It is
extremely rare for an application to do this.)
Any program that compiled against libpng 1.4 and did not use deprecated features or access internal
library structures should compile and work against libpng 1.5, except for the change in the prototype for
png_get_iCCP() and png_set_iCCP() API functions mentioned above.
libpng 1.5.0 adds PNG_ PASS macros to help in the reading and writing of interlaced images. The macros
return the number of rows and columns in each pass and information that can be used to de-interlace and
(if absolutely necessary) interlace an image.
libpng 1.5.0 adds an API png_longjmp(png_ptr, value). This API calls the application-provided
png_longjmp_ptr on the internal, but application initialized, longjmp buffer. It is provided as a
convenience to avoid the need to use the png_jmpbuf macro, which had the unnecessary side effect of
resetting the internal png_longjmp_ptr value.
libpng 1.5.0 includes a complete fixed point API. By default this is present along with the
corresponding floating point API. In general the fixed point API is faster and smaller than the floating
point one because the PNG file format used fixed point, not floating point. This applies even if the
library uses floating point in internal calculations. A new macro, PNG_FLOATING_ARITHMETIC_SUPPORTED,
reveals whether the library uses floating point arithmetic (the default) or fixed point arithmetic
internally for performance critical calculations such as gamma correction. In some cases, the gamma
calculations may produce slightly different results. This has changed the results in png_rgb_to_gray and
in alpha composition (png_set_background for example). This applies even if the original image was
already linear (gamma == 1.0) and, therefore, it is not necessary to linearize the image. This is
because libpng has *not* been changed to optimize that case correctly, yet.
Fixed point support for the sCAL chunk comes with an important caveat; the sCAL specification uses a
decimal encoding of floating point values and the accuracy of PNG fixed point values is insufficient for
representation of these values. Consequently a "string" API (png_get_sCAL_s and png_set_sCAL_s) is the
only reliable way of reading arbitrary sCAL chunks in the absence of either the floating point API or
internal floating point calculations. Starting with libpng-1.5.0, both of these functions are present
when PNG_sCAL_SUPPORTED is defined. Prior to libpng-1.5.0, their presence also depended upon
PNG_FIXED_POINT_SUPPORTED being defined and PNG_FLOATING_POINT_SUPPORTED not being defined.
Applications no longer need to include the optional distribution header file pngusr.h or define the
corresponding macros during application build in order to see the correct variant of the libpng API.
From 1.5.0 application code can check for the corresponding _SUPPORTED macro:
#ifdef PNG_INCH_CONVERSIONS_SUPPORTED
/* code that uses the inch conversion APIs. */ #endif
This macro will only be defined if the inch conversion functions have been compiled into libpng. The
full set of macros, and whether or not support has been compiled in, are available in the header file
pnglibconf.h. This header file is specific to the libpng build. Notice that prior to 1.5.0 the
_SUPPORTED macros would always have the default definition unless reset by pngusr.h or by explicit
settings on the compiler command line. These settings may produce compiler warnings or errors in 1.5.0
because of macro redefinition.
Applications can now choose whether to use these macros or to call the corresponding function by defining
PNG_USE_READ_MACROS or PNG_NO_USE_READ_MACROS before including png.h. Notice that this is only supported
from 1.5.0; defining PNG_NO_USE_READ_MACROS prior to 1.5.0 will lead to a link failure.
Prior to libpng-1.5.4, the zlib compressor used the same set of parameters when compressing the IDAT data
and textual data such as zTXt and iCCP. In libpng-1.5.4 we reinitialized the zlib stream for each type
of data. We added five png_set_text_*() functions for setting the parameters to use with textual data.
Prior to libpng-1.5.4, the PNG_READ_16_TO_8_ACCURATE_SCALE_SUPPORTED option was off by default, and
slightly inaccurate scaling occurred. This option can no longer be turned off, and the choice of
accurate or inaccurate 16-to-8 scaling is by using the new png_set_scale_16_to_8() API for accurate
scaling or the old png_set_strip_16_to_8() API for simple chopping. In libpng-1.5.4, the
PNG_READ_16_TO_8_ACCURATE_SCALE_SUPPORTED macro became PNG_READ_SCALE_16_TO_8_SUPPORTED, and the
PNG_READ_16_TO_8 macro became PNG_READ_STRIP_16_TO_8_SUPPORTED, to enable the two png_set_*_16_to_8()
functions separately.
Prior to libpng-1.5.4, the png_set_user_limits() function could only be used to reduce the width and
height limits from the value of PNG_USER_WIDTH_MAX and PNG_USER_HEIGHT_MAX, although this document said
that it could be used to override them. Now this function will reduce or increase the limits.
Starting in libpng-1.5.10, the user limits can be set en masse with the configuration option
PNG_SAFE_LIMITS_SUPPORTED. If this option is enabled, a set of "safe" limits is applied in pngpriv.h.
These can be overridden by application calls to png_set_user_limits(), png_set_user_chunk_cache_max(),
and/or png_set_user_malloc_max() that increase or decrease the limits. Also, in libpng-1.5.10 the
default width and height limits were increased from 1,000,000 to 0x7fffffff (i.e., made unlimited).
Therefore, the limits are now
default safe
png_user_width_max 0x7fffffff 1,000,000
png_user_height_max 0x7fffffff 1,000,000
png_user_chunk_cache_max 0 (unlimited) 128
png_user_chunk_malloc_max 0 (unlimited) 8,000,000
The png_set_option() function (and the "options" member of the png struct) was added to libpng-1.5.15,
with option PNG_ARM_NEON.
The library now supports a complete fixed point implementation and can thus be used on systems that have
no floating point support or very limited or slow support. Previously gamma correction, an essential
part of complete PNG support, required reasonably fast floating point.
As part of this the choice of internal implementation has been made independent of the choice of fixed
versus floating point APIs and all the missing fixed point APIs have been implemented.
The exact mechanism used to control attributes of API functions has changed, as described in the INSTALL
file.
A new test program, pngvalid, is provided in addition to pngtest. pngvalid validates the arithmetic
accuracy of the gamma correction calculations and includes a number of validations of the file format. A
subset of the full range of tests is run when "make check" is done (in the 'configure' build.) pngvalid
also allows total allocated memory usage to be evaluated and performs additional memory overwrite
validation.
Many changes to individual feature macros have been made. The following are the changes most likely to be
noticed by library builders who configure libpng:
1) All feature macros now have consistent naming:
#define PNG_NO_feature turns the feature off #define PNG_feature_SUPPORTED turns the feature on
pnglibconf.h contains one line for each feature macro which is either:
#define PNG_feature_SUPPORTED
if the feature is supported or:
/*#undef PNG_feature_SUPPORTED*/
if it is not. Library code consistently checks for the 'SUPPORTED' macro. It does not, and libpng
applications should not, check for the 'NO' macro which will not normally be defined even if the feature
is not supported. The 'NO' macros are only used internally for setting or not setting the corresponding
'SUPPORTED' macros.
Compatibility with the old names is provided as follows:
PNG_INCH_CONVERSIONS turns on PNG_INCH_CONVERSIONS_SUPPORTED
And the following definitions disable the corresponding feature:
PNG_SETJMP_NOT_SUPPORTED disables SETJMP PNG_READ_TRANSFORMS_NOT_SUPPORTED disables READ_TRANSFORMS
PNG_NO_READ_COMPOSITED_NODIV disables READ_COMPOSITE_NODIV PNG_WRITE_TRANSFORMS_NOT_SUPPORTED disables
WRITE_TRANSFORMS PNG_READ_ANCILLARY_CHUNKS_NOT_SUPPORTED disables READ_ANCILLARY_CHUNKS
PNG_WRITE_ANCILLARY_CHUNKS_NOT_SUPPORTED disables WRITE_ANCILLARY_CHUNKS
Library builders should remove use of the above, inconsistent, names.
2) Warning and error message formatting was previously conditional on the STDIO feature. The library has
been changed to use the CONSOLE_IO feature instead. This means that if CONSOLE_IO is disabled the library
no longer uses the printf(3) functions, even though the default read/write implementations use (FILE)
style stdio.h functions.
3) Three feature macros now control the fixed/floating point decisions:
PNG_FLOATING_POINT_SUPPORTED enables the floating point APIs
PNG_FIXED_POINT_SUPPORTED enables the fixed point APIs; however, in practice these are normally required
internally anyway (because the PNG file format is fixed point), therefore in most cases
PNG_NO_FIXED_POINT merely stops the function from being exported.
PNG_FLOATING_ARITHMETIC_SUPPORTED chooses between the internal floating point implementation or the fixed
point one. Typically the fixed point implementation is larger and slower than the floating point
implementation on a system that supports floating point; however, it may be faster on a system which
lacks floating point hardware and therefore uses a software emulation.
4) Added PNG_{READ,WRITE}_INT_FUNCTIONS_SUPPORTED. This allows the functions to read and write ints to
be disabled independently of PNG_USE_READ_MACROS, which allows libpng to be built with the functions even
though the default is to use the macros - this allows applications to choose at app buildtime whether or
not to use macros (previously impossible because the functions weren't in the default build.)
XII. Changes to Libpng from version 1.5.x to 1.6.x
A "simplified API" has been added (see documentation in png.h and a simple example in
contrib/examples/pngtopng.c). The new publicly visible API includes the following:
macros:
PNG_FORMAT_*
PNG_IMAGE_*
structures:
png_control
png_image
read functions
png_image_begin_read_from_file()
png_image_begin_read_from_stdio()
png_image_begin_read_from_memory()
png_image_finish_read()
png_image_free()
write functions
png_image_write_to_file()
png_image_write_to_stdio()
Starting with libpng-1.6.0, you can configure libpng to prefix all exported symbols, using the PNG_PREFIX
macro.
We no longer include string.h in png.h. The include statement has been moved to pngpriv.h, where it is
not accessible by applications. Applications that need access to information in string.h must add an
'#include <string.h>' directive. It does not matter whether this is placed prior to or after the
'#include "png.h"' directive.
The following API are now DEPRECATED:
png_info_init_3()
png_convert_to_rfc1123() which has been replaced
with png_convert_to_rfc1123_buffer()
png_malloc_default()
png_free_default()
png_reset_zstream()
The following have been removed:
png_get_io_chunk_name(), which has been replaced
with png_get_io_chunk_type(). The new
function returns a 32-bit integer instead of
a string.
The png_sizeof(), png_strlen(), png_memcpy(), png_memcmp(), and
png_memset() macros are no longer used in the libpng sources and
have been removed. These had already been made invisible to applications
(i.e., defined in the private pngpriv.h header file) since libpng-1.5.0.
The signatures of many exported functions were changed, such that
png_structp became png_structrp or png_const_structrp
png_infop became png_inforp or png_const_inforp where "rp" indicates a "restricted pointer".
Dropped support for 16-bit platforms. The support for FAR/far types has been eliminated and the
definition of png_alloc_size_t is now controlled by a flag so that 'small size_t' systems can select it
if necessary.
Error detection in some chunks has improved; in particular the iCCP chunk reader now does pretty complete
validation of the basic format. Some bad profiles that were previously accepted are now accepted with a
warning or rejected, depending upon the png_set_benign_errors() setting, in particular the very old
broken Microsoft/HP 3144-byte sRGB profile. Starting with libpng-1.6.11, recognizing and checking sRGB
profiles can be avoided by means of
#if defined(PNG_SKIP_sRGB_CHECK_PROFILE) && defined(PNG_SET_OPTION_SUPPORTED)
png_set_option(png_ptr, PNG_SKIP_sRGB_CHECK_PROFILE,
PNG_OPTION_ON);
#endif
It's not a good idea to do this if you are using the "simplified API", which needs to be able to
recognize sRGB profiles conveyed via the iCCP chunk.
The PNG spec requirement that only grayscale profiles may appear in images with color type 0 or 4 and
that even if the image only contains gray pixels, only RGB profiles may appear in images with color type
2, 3, or 6, is now enforced. The sRGB chunk is allowed to appear in images with any color type and is
interpreted by libpng to convey a one-tracer-curve gray profile or a three-tracer-curve RGB profile as
appropriate.
Prior to libpng-1.6.0 a warning would be issued if the iTXt chunk contained an empty language field or an
empty translated keyword. Both of these are allowed by the PNG specification, so these warnings are no
longer issued.
The library now issues an error if the application attempts to set a transform after it calls
png_read_update_info() or if it attempts to call both png_read_update_info() and png_start_read_image()
or to call either of them more than once.
The default condition for benign_errors is now to treat benign errors as warnings while reading and as
errors while writing.
The library now issues a warning if both background processing and RGB to gray are used when gamma
correction happens. As with previous versions of the library the results are numerically very incorrect
in this case.
There are some minor arithmetic changes in some transforms such as png_set_background(), that might be
detected by certain regression tests.
Unknown chunk handling has been improved internally, without any API change. This adds more correct
option control of the unknown handling, corrects a pre-existing bug where the per-chunk 'keep' setting is
ignored, and makes it possible to skip IDAT chunks in the sequential reader.
The machine-generated configure files are no longer included in branches libpng16 and later of the GIT
repository. They continue to be included in the tarball releases, however.
Libpng-1.6.0 through 1.6.2 used the CMF bytes at the beginning of the IDAT stream to set the size of the
sliding window for reading instead of using the default 32-kbyte sliding window size. It was discovered
that there are hundreds of PNG files in the wild that have incorrect CMF bytes that caused zlib to issue
the "invalid distance too far back" error and reject the file. Libpng-1.6.3 and later calculate their
own safe CMF from the image dimensions, provide a way to revert to the libpng-1.5.x behavior (ignoring
the CMF bytes and using a 32-kbyte sliding window), by using
png_set_option(png_ptr, PNG_MAXIMUM_INFLATE_WINDOW,
PNG_OPTION_ON);
and provide a tool (contrib/tools/pngfix) for rewriting a PNG file while optimizing the CMF bytes in its
IDAT chunk correctly.
Libpng-1.6.0 and libpng-1.6.1 wrote uncompressed iTXt chunks with the wrong length, which resulted in PNG
files that cannot be read beyond the bad iTXt chunk. This error was fixed in libpng-1.6.3, and a tool
(called contrib/tools/png-fix-itxt) has been added to the libpng distribution.
Starting with libpng-1.6.17, the PNG_SAFE_LIMITS macro was eliminated and safe limits are used by default
(users who need larger limits can still override them at compile time or run time, as described above).
The new limits are
default spec limit
png_user_width_max 1,000,000 2,147,483,647
png_user_height_max 1,000,000 2,147,483,647
png_user_chunk_cache_max 128 unlimited
png_user_chunk_malloc_max 8,000,000 unlimited
Starting with libpng-1.6.18, a PNG_RELEASE_BUILD macro was added, which allows library builders to
control compilation for an installed system (a release build). It can be set for testing debug or beta
builds to ensure that they will compile when the build type is switched to RC or STABLE. In essence this
overrides the PNG_LIBPNG_BUILD_BASE_TYPE definition which is not directly user controllable.
Starting with libpng-1.6.19, attempting to set an over-length PLTE chunk is an error. Previously this
requirement of the PNG specification was not enforced, and the palette was always limited to 256 entries.
An over-length PLTE chunk found in an input PNG is silently truncated.
XIII. Detecting libpng
The png_get_io_ptr() function has been present since libpng-0.88, has never changed, and is unaffected by
conditional compilation macros. It is the best choice for use in configure scripts for detecting the
presence of any libpng version since 0.88. In an autoconf "configure.in" you could use
AC_CHECK_LIB(png, png_get_io_ptr, ...
XV. Source code repository
Since about February 2009, version 1.2.34, libpng has been under "git" source control. The git
repository was built from old libpng-x.y.z.tar.gz files going back to version 0.70. You can access the
git repository (read only) at
git://git.code.sf.net/p/libpng/code
or you can browse it with a web browser by selecting the "code" button at
https://sourceforge.net/projects/libpng
Patches can be sent to glennrp at users.sourceforge.net or to png-mng-implement at lists.sourceforge.net
or you can upload them to the libpng bug tracker at
http://libpng.sourceforge.net
We also accept patches built from the tar or zip distributions, and simple verbal discriptions of bug
fixes, reported either to the SourceForge bug tracker, to the png-mng-implement at lists.sf.net mailing
list, or directly to glennrp.
XV. Coding style
Our coding style is similar to the "Allman" style (See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style#Allman_style), with curly braces on separate lines:
if (condition)
{
action;
}
else if (another condition)
{
another action;
}
The braces can be omitted from simple one-line actions:
if (condition)
return (0);
We use 3-space indentation, except for continued statements which are usually indented the same as the
first line of the statement plus four more spaces.
For macro definitions we use 2-space indentation, always leaving the "#" in the first column.
#ifndef PNG_NO_FEATURE
# ifndef PNG_FEATURE_SUPPORTED
# define PNG_FEATURE_SUPPORTED
# endif
#endif
Comments appear with the leading "/*" at the same indentation as the statement that follows the comment:
/* Single-line comment */
statement;
/* This is a multiple-line
* comment.
*/
statement;
Very short comments can be placed after the end of the statement to which they pertain:
statement; /* comment */
We don't use C++ style ("//") comments. We have, however, used them in the past in some now-abandoned MMX
assembler code.
Functions and their curly braces are not indented, and exported functions are marked with PNGAPI:
/* This is a public function that is visible to
* application programmers. It does thus-and-so.
*/
void PNGAPI
png_exported_function(png_ptr, png_info, foo)
{
body;
}
The return type and decorations are placed on a separate line ahead of the function name, as illustrated
above.
The prototypes for all exported functions appear in png.h, above the comment that says
/* Maintainer: Put new public prototypes here ... */
We mark all non-exported functions with "/* PRIVATE */"":
void /* PRIVATE */
png_non_exported_function(png_ptr, png_info, foo)
{
body;
}
The prototypes for non-exported functions (except for those in pngtest) appear in pngpriv.h above the
comment that says
/* Maintainer: Put new private prototypes here ^ */
To avoid polluting the global namespace, the names of all exported functions and variables begin with
"png_", and all publicly visible C preprocessor macros begin with "PNG". We request that applications
that use libpng *not* begin any of their own symbols with either of these strings.
We put a space after the "sizeof" operator and we omit the optional parentheses around its argument when
the argument is an expression, not a type name, and we always enclose the sizeof operator, with its
argument, in parentheses:
(sizeof (png_uint_32))
(sizeof array)
Prior to libpng-1.6.0 we used a "png_sizeof()" macro, formatted as though it were a function.
Control keywords if, for, while, and switch are always followed by a space to distinguish them from
function calls, which have no trailing space.
We put a space after each comma and after each semicolon in "for" statements, and we put spaces before
and after each C binary operator and after "for" or "while", and before "?". We don't put a space
between a typecast and the expression being cast, nor do we put one between a function name and the left
parenthesis that follows it:
for (i = 2; i > 0; --i)
y[i] = a(x) + (int)b;
We prefer #ifdef and #ifndef to #if defined() and #if !defined() when there is only one macro being
tested. We always use parentheses with "defined".
We express integer constants that are used as bit masks in hex format, with an even number of lower-case
hex digits, and to make them unsigned (e.g., 0x00U, 0xffU, 0x0100U) and long if they are greater than
0x7fff (e.g., 0xffffUL).
We prefer to use underscores rather than camelCase in names, except for a few type names that we inherit
from zlib.h.
We prefer "if (something != 0)" and "if (something == 0)" over "if (something)" and if "(!something)",
respectively.
We do not use the TAB character for indentation in the C sources.
Lines do not exceed 80 characters.
Other rules can be inferred by inspecting the libpng source.
XVI. Y2K Compliance in libpng
Since the PNG Development group is an ad-hoc body, we can't make an official declaration.
This is your unofficial assurance that libpng from version 0.71 and upward through 1.6.20 are Y2K
compliant. It is my belief that earlier versions were also Y2K compliant.
Libpng only has two year fields. One is a 2-byte unsigned integer that will hold years up to 65535. The
other, which is deprecated, holds the date in text format, and will hold years up to 9999.
The integer is
"png_uint_16 year" in png_time_struct.
The string is
"char time_buffer[29]" in png_struct. This is no longer used in libpng-1.6.x and will be removed
from libpng-1.7.0.
There are seven time-related functions:
png_convert_to_rfc_1123_buffer() in png.c
(formerly png_convert_to_rfc_1152() in error, and
also formerly png_convert_to_rfc_1123())
png_convert_from_struct_tm() in pngwrite.c, called
in pngwrite.c
png_convert_from_time_t() in pngwrite.c
png_get_tIME() in pngget.c
png_handle_tIME() in pngrutil.c, called in pngread.c
png_set_tIME() in pngset.c
png_write_tIME() in pngwutil.c, called in pngwrite.c
All appear to handle dates properly in a Y2K environment. The png_convert_from_time_t() function calls
gmtime() to convert from system clock time, which returns (year - 1900), which we properly convert to the
full 4-digit year. There is a possibility that applications using libpng are not passing 4-digit years
into the png_convert_to_rfc_1123() function, or that they are incorrectly passing only a 2-digit year
instead of "year - 1900" into the png_convert_from_struct_tm() function, but this is not under our
control. The libpng documentation has always stated that it works with 4-digit years, and the APIs have
been documented as such.
The tIME chunk itself is also Y2K compliant. It uses a 2-byte unsigned integer to hold the year, and can
hold years as large as 65535.
zlib, upon which libpng depends, is also Y2K compliant. It contains no date-related code.
Glenn Randers-Pehrson
libpng maintainer
PNG Development Group
NOTE
Note about libpng version numbers:
Due to various miscommunications, unforeseen code incompatibilities and occasional factors outside the
authors' control, version numbering on the library has not always been consistent and straightforward.
The following table summarizes matters since version 0.89c, which was the first widely used release:
source png.h png.h shared-lib
version string int version
------- ------ ----- ----------
0.89c "1.0 beta 3" 0.89 89 1.0.89
0.90 "1.0 beta 4" 0.90 90 0.90 [should have been 2.0.90]
0.95 "1.0 beta 5" 0.95 95 0.95 [should have been 2.0.95]
0.96 "1.0 beta 6" 0.96 96 0.96 [should have been 2.0.96]
0.97b "1.00.97 beta 7" 1.00.97 97 1.0.1 [should have been 2.0.97]
0.97c 0.97 97 2.0.97
0.98 0.98 98 2.0.98
0.99 0.99 98 2.0.99
0.99a-m 0.99 99 2.0.99
1.00 1.00 100 2.1.0 [100 should be 10000]
1.0.0 (from here on, the 100 2.1.0 [100 should be 10000]
1.0.1 png.h string is 10001 2.1.0
1.0.1a-e identical to the 10002 from here on, the shared library
1.0.2 source version) 10002 is 2.V where V is the source code
1.0.2a-b 10003 version, except as noted.
1.0.3 10003
1.0.3a-d 10004
1.0.4 10004
1.0.4a-f 10005
1.0.5 (+ 2 patches) 10005
1.0.5a-d 10006
1.0.5e-r 10100 (not source compatible)
1.0.5s-v 10006 (not binary compatible)
1.0.6 (+ 3 patches) 10006 (still binary incompatible)
1.0.6d-f 10007 (still binary incompatible)
1.0.6g 10007
1.0.6h 10007 10.6h (testing xy.z so-numbering)
1.0.6i 10007 10.6i
1.0.6j 10007 2.1.0.6j (incompatible with 1.0.0)
1.0.7beta11-14 DLLNUM 10007 2.1.0.7beta11-14 (binary compatible)
1.0.7beta15-18 1 10007 2.1.0.7beta15-18 (binary compatible)
1.0.7rc1-2 1 10007 2.1.0.7rc1-2 (binary compatible)
1.0.7 1 10007 (still compatible)
...
1.0.19 10 10019 10.so.0.19[.0]
...
1.2.53 13 10253 12.so.0.53[.0]
...
1.5.23 15 10523 15.so.15.23[.0]
...
1.6.20 16 10620 16.so.16.20[.0]
Henceforth the source version will match the shared-library minor and patch numbers; the shared-library
major version number will be used for changes in backward compatibility, as it is intended. The
PNG_PNGLIB_VER macro, which is not used within libpng but is available for applications, is an unsigned
integer of the form xyyzz corresponding to the source version x.y.z (leading zeros in y and z). Beta
versions were given the previous public release number plus a letter, until version 1.0.6j; from then on
they were given the upcoming public release number plus "betaNN" or "rcNN".
SEE ALSO
libpngpf(3), png(5)
libpng:
http://libpng.sourceforge.net (follow the [DOWNLOAD] link) http://www.libpng.org/pub/png
zlib:
(generally) at the same location as libpng or at
ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/zlib
PNGspecification:RFC2083
(generally) at the same location as libpng or at
ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org:/in-notes/rfc2083.txt
or (as a W3C Recommendation) at
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-png.html
In the case of any inconsistency between the PNG specification and this library, the specification takes
precedence.
AUTHORS
This man page: Glenn Randers-Pehrson <glennrp at users.sourceforge.net>
The contributing authors would like to thank all those who helped with testing, bug fixes, and patience.
This wouldn't have been possible without all of you.
Thanks to Frank J. T. Wojcik for helping with the documentation.
Libpng version 1.6.20 - December 3, 2015: Initially created in 1995 by Guy Eric Schalnat, then of Group
42, Inc. Currently maintained by Glenn Randers-Pehrson (glennrp at users.sourceforge.net).
Supported by the PNG development group
png-mng-implement at lists.sf.net (subscription required; visit png-mng-implement at
lists.sourceforge.net (subscription required; visit https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/png-mng-
implement to subscribe).
NOTICES:
This copy of the libpng notices is provided for your convenience. In case of any discrepancy between
this copy and the notices in the file png.h that is included in the libpng distribution, the latter shall
prevail.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DISCLAIMER, and LICENSE:
If you modify libpng you may insert additional notices immediately following this sentence.
This code is released under the libpng license.
libpng versions 1.0.7, July 1, 2000, through 1.6.20, December 3, 2015, are Copyright (c) 2000-2002, 2004,
2006-2015 Glenn Randers-Pehrson, are derived from libpng-1.0.6, and are distributed according to the same
disclaimer and license as libpng-1.0.6 with the following individuals added to the list of Contributing
Authors:
Simon-Pierre Cadieux
Eric S. Raymond
Mans Rullgard
Cosmin Truta
Gilles Vollant
James Yu
and with the following additions to the disclaimer:
There is no warranty against interference with your enjoyment of the
library or against infringement. There is no warranty that our
efforts or the library will fulfill any of your particular purposes
or needs. This library is provided with all faults, and the entire
risk of satisfactory quality, performance, accuracy, and effort is with
the user.
libpng versions 0.97, January 1998, through 1.0.6, March 20, 2000, are Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Glenn
Randers-Pehrson, are derived from libpng-0.96, and are distributed according to the same disclaimer and
license as libpng-0.96, with the following individuals added to the list of Contributing Authors:
Tom Lane
Glenn Randers-Pehrson
Willem van Schaik
libpng versions 0.89, June 1996, through 0.96, May 1997, are Copyright (c) 1996-1997 Andreas Dilger, are
derived from libpng-0.88, and are distributed according to the same disclaimer and license as
libpng-0.88, with the following individuals added to the list of Contributing Authors:
John Bowler
Kevin Bracey
Sam Bushell
Magnus Holmgren
Greg Roelofs
Tom Tanner
libpng versions 0.5, May 1995, through 0.88, January 1996, are Copyright (c) 1995-1996 Guy Eric Schalnat,
Group 42, Inc.
For the purposes of this copyright and license, "Contributing Authors" is defined as the following set of
individuals:
Andreas Dilger
Dave Martindale
Guy Eric Schalnat
Paul Schmidt
Tim Wegner
The PNG Reference Library is supplied "AS IS". The Contributing Authors and Group 42, Inc. disclaim all
warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of
fitness for any purpose. The Contributing Authors and Group 42, Inc. assume no liability for direct,
indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages, which may result from the use of the
PNG Reference Library, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.
Permission is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, and distribute this source code, or portions hereof,
for any purpose, without fee, subject to the following restrictions:
1. The origin of this source code must not be misrepresented.
2. Altered versions must be plainly marked as such and must not
be misrepresented as being the original source.
3. This Copyright notice may not be removed or altered from any
source or altered source distribution.
The Contributing Authors and Group 42, Inc. specifically permit, without fee, and encourage the use of
this source code as a component to supporting the PNG file format in commercial products. If you use
this source code in a product, acknowledgment is not required but would be appreciated.
END OF COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DISCLAIMER, and LICENSE.
A "png_get_copyright" function is available, for convenient use in "about" boxes and the like:
printf("%s", png_get_copyright(NULL));
Also, the PNG logo (in PNG format, of course) is supplied in the files "pngbar.png" and "pngbar.jpg
(88x31) and "pngnow.png" (98x31).
Libpng is OSI Certified Open Source Software. OSI Certified Open Source is a certification mark of the
Open Source Initiative. OSI has not addressed the additional disclaimers inserted at version 1.0.7.
Glenn Randers-Pehrson glennrp at users.sourceforge.net December 3, 2015
December 3, 2015 LIBPNG(3)