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diff --git a/png/libpng-manual.txt b/png/libpng-manual.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f79ca7e --- /dev/null +++ b/png/libpng-manual.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5330 @@ +libpng-manual.txt - A description on how to use and modify libpng + + libpng version 1.6.12 - June 12, 2014 + Updated and distributed by Glenn Randers-Pehrson + <glennrp at users.sourceforge.net> + Copyright (c) 1998-2014 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 1.6.12 - June 12, 2014 + Updated and distributed by Glenn Randers-Pehrson + Copyright (c) 1998-2014 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://www.libpng.org/pub/png/documents/>. 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://www.libpng.org/pub/png/documents/> and as a +W3C Recommendation <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC.png.html>. + +Some additional chunks are described in the special-purpose public chunks +documents at <http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/documents/>. + +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://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/zlib/>. +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_read() +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); + } + + fread(header, 1, number, fp); + 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 '\0' 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) '\0'}; + + #if defined(PNG_UNKNOWN_CHUNKS_SUPPORTED) + png_byte unused_chunks[]= + { + 104, 73, 83, 84, (png_byte) '\0', /* hIST */ + 105, 84, 88, 116, (png_byte) '\0', /* iTXt */ + 112, 67, 65, 76, (png_byte) '\0', /* pCAL */ + 115, 67, 65, 76, (png_byte) '\0', /* sCAL */ + 115, 80, 76, 84, (png_byte) '\0', /* sPLT */ + 116, 73, 77, 69, (png_byte) '\0', /* 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. +Since very few applications really need to process such large images, +we have imposed an arbitrary 1-million limit on rows and columns. +Larger images will be rejected immediately with a png_error() call. If +you wish to change this limit, you can use + + png_set_user_limits(png_ptr, width_max, height_max); + +to set your own limits, or use width_max = height_max = 0x7fffffffL +to allow all valid dimensions (libpng may reject some very large 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. You can impose a limit on the total number +of sPLT, tEXt, iTXt, zTXt, and unknown 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); + +You can also set a limit on the amount of memory that a compressed chunk +other than IDAT can occupy, 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 or all of 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 16-bit + 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 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 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. This transformation +does not affect images that already have full alpha channels. To add an +opaque alpha channel, use filler=0xff or 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. +This 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, +<http://www.poynton.com/>, 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 then 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 then 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(png_ptr, 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 and memset() it to all zero. + + 2) Call the appropriate png_image_begin_read... function. + + 3) Set the png_image 'format' member to the required + format and allocate a buffer for the image. + + 4) Call png_image_finish_read to read the image into + your buffer. + +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. + +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 in memory. + + 3) Call the appropriate png_image_write... function with a + pointer to the image 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 define the in-memory format of an image that you +need to write. The "png_image" structure contains the following members: + + 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_controlp opaque Initialize to NULL, free with png_image_free + 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 following field warning_or_error +field will be set to a non-zero value and the 'message' field will contain +a '\0' 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 this 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 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. + +When a color-mapped image is used as a result of calling +png_image_read_colormap or png_image_write_colormap the channels are encoded +in the color-map and the descriptions above apply to the color-map entries. +The image data is encoded as small integers, value 0..255, that index the +entries in the color-map. One integer (one byte) is stored for each pixel. + +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 channel encodings. + +A format is built up using single bit flag values. Not all combinations are +valid: use the bit flag values below for testing a format returned by the +read APIs, but set formats from the derived values. + +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: + + PNG_SIMPLIFIED_{READ,WRITE}_{BGR,AFIRST}_SUPPORTED + + PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_ALPHA 0x01 format with an alpha channel + PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLOR 0x02 color format: otherwise grayscale + PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_LINEAR 0x04 png_uint_16 channels else png_byte + PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLORMAP 0x08 libpng use only + PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_BGR 0x10 BGR colors, else order is RGB + PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_AFIRST 0x20 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 formats: + + PNG_FORMAT_GRAY 0 + PNG_FORMAT_GA PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_ALPHA + PNG_FORMAT_AG (PNG_FORMAT_GA|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_AFIRST) + PNG_FORMAT_RGB PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLOR + PNG_FORMAT_BGR (PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLOR|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_BGR) + PNG_FORMAT_RGBA (PNG_FORMAT_RGB|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_ALPHA) + PNG_FORMAT_ARGB (PNG_FORMAT_RGBA|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_AFIRST) + PNG_FORMAT_BGRA (PNG_FORMAT_BGR|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_ALPHA) + PNG_FORMAT_ABGR (PNG_FORMAT_BGRA|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_AFIRST) + +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_FLAG_LINEAR + PNG_FORMAT_LINEAR_Y_ALPHA + (PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_LINEAR|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_ALPHA) + PNG_FORMAT_LINEAR_RGB + (PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_LINEAR|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLOR) + PNG_FORMAT_LINEAR_RGB_ALPHA + (PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_LINEAR|PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLOR| + PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_ALPHA) + +Color-mapped formats are obtained by calling png_image_{read,write}_colormap, +as appropriate after setting png_image::format to the format of the color-map +to be read or written. Applications may check the value of +PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_COLORMAP to see if they have called the colormap API. The +format of the color-map may be extracted using the following macro. + + PNG_FORMAT_OF_COLORMAP(fmt) ((fmt) & ~PNG_FORMAT_FLAG_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 after a call to +png_image_{read,write}_colormap. 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. + +First the information about the samples. + + 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. + + 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_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. + +#define PNG_IMAGE_MAXIMUM_COLORMAP_COMPONENTS(fmt)\ + (PNG_IMAGE_SAMPLE_CHANNELS(fmt) * 256) + /* 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. + */ + + +Corresponding information about the pixels + + PNG_IMAGE_PIXEL_(test,fmt) + + 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) + Returns 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. This + macro takes care of multiplying row_stride by PNG_IMAGE_PIXEL_COMONENT_SIZE + when the image has 2-byte components. + + 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_COLORMAP == 0x02 + The PNG is color-mapped. If this flag is set png_image_read_colormap + can be used without further loss of image information. If it is not set + png_image_read_colormap will cause significant loss if the image has any + +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. + +Note that the write API does not support interlacing, sub-8-bit pixels, +and indexed (paletted) images. + +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(). + +It is also possible to influence how libpng chooses from among the +available filters. This is done in one or both of two ways - by +telling it how important it is to keep the same filter for successive +rows, and by telling it the relative computational costs of the filters. + + double weights[3] = {1.5, 1.3, 1.1}, + costs[PNG_FILTER_VALUE_LAST] = + {1.0, 1.3, 1.3, 1.5, 1.7}; + + png_set_filter_heuristics(png_ptr, + PNG_FILTER_HEURISTIC_WEIGHTED, 3, + weights, costs); + +The weights are multiplying factors that indicate to libpng that the +row filter should be the same for successive rows unless another row filter +is that many times better than the previous filter. In the above example, +if the previous 3 filters were SUB, SUB, NONE, the SUB filter could have a +"sum of absolute differences" 1.5 x 1.3 times higher than other filters +and still be chosen, while the NONE filter could have a sum 1.1 times +higher than other filters and still be chosen. Unspecified weights are +taken to be 1.0, and the specified weights should probably be declining +like those above in order to emphasize recent filters over older filters. + +The filter costs specify for each filter type a relative decoding cost +to be considered when selecting row filters. This means that filters +with higher costs are less likely to be chosen over filters with lower +costs, unless their "sum of absolute differences" is that much smaller. +The costs do not necessarily reflect the exact computational speeds of +the various filters, since this would unduly influence the final image +size. + +Note that the numbers above were invented purely for this example and +are given only to help explain the function usage. Little testing has +been done to find optimum values for either the costs or the weights. + +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 0x7ffffff (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. + +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". + +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 + + #ifdef PNG_SKIP_sRGB_CHECK_PROFILE + 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 an sRGB profile 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 profile or a +three-tracer-curve 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. + +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 ^ */ + +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. + +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 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 prefer to express integers that are used as bit masks in hex format, +with an even number of lower-case hex digits (e.g., 0x00, 0xff, 0x0100). + +We prefer to use underscores in variable names rather than camelCase, 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 + +June 12, 2014 + +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 1.6.12 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() in png.c + (formerly png_convert_to_rfc_1152() in error) + 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 |