Will Paint.NET ever be able to save 8bit+alpha PNGs?

[Rolen47]

It would be incredible if Paint.NET was able to save in this rare format. Very few programs will save PNGs in this 8bit+alpha format, there are only 3 that I know of:

Fireworks (ridiculously expensive)

pngnq (command line)

pngquant (command line)

What's the advantage of 8bit+alpha? Well I'll show you (this may not look right in some old browsers):

Original 32bit PNG (81.7 KB):

Big filesize, but it has nice semi-transparent edges.

8bit PNG (27.6 KB):

The image is much smaller in filesize, however you'll notice that without an alpha channel it looks like a cut-out sticker.

8bit PNG+alpha (27.9 KB)

Sweet, the best of both worlds. It has a small filesize and at the same time it has semi-transparent edges that look faded, just like the original 32bit image.

I noticed that Paint.NET can open 8bit+alpha PNGs no problem, but would it be difficult to program it to allow it to save in this format?

[Rick Brewster]

I don't have any plans to add this to Paint.NET. Like you said, it's a rare format. If you really really need to squeeze images down to that size, you should work with them at 32-bit and then squish them to the 8-bit+A format as a final post-processing / pre-uploading step.

[david.atwell]

Filesize can also be greatly improved by OptiPNG, a plugin for Paint.NET.

Your posted image, optimized in OptiPNG down to 28.48 KB, is attached. :-) Nice and semi-transparent edges and everything, though you'll have to click through the preview to the final to see it.