{
  "id": "magic/png",
  "family": "magic",
  "slug": "png",
  "title": "PNG signature (89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A)",
  "summary": "A PNG file begins with an 8-byte signature: 0x89 then the ASCII 'PNG', then a CRLF, a DOS EOF (0x1A), and a final LF. The non-ASCII first byte and the CR/LF/EOF bytes are deliberately chosen to detect transmission over text-mode channels that would corrupt the file.",
  "kind": "signature",
  "aliases": [
    "PNG magic",
    "\\x89PNG"
  ],
  "status": "standard",
  "verification": "verified",
  "tier": "B",
  "source_url": "https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2083#section-3.1",
  "source_version": "RFC 2083 (PNG 1.0), Section 3.1 PNG file signature",
  "retrieved_date": "2026-05-29",
  "see_also": [
    "magic/gif",
    "magic/jpeg"
  ],
  "ext_type": "file-signature@1",
  "ext": {
    "magic_hex": "89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A",
    "offset": 0,
    "magic_ascii": "\\x89 P N G \\r \\n \\x1a \\n",
    "extensions": [
      "png"
    ],
    "mime": "image/png",
    "spec": "RFC 2083 / ISO/IEC 15948",
    "notes": [
      "The first byte 0x89 has the high bit set so the file is flagged as binary, not text.",
      "Bytes 2-4 are the ASCII letters 'PNG' (0x50 0x4E 0x47).",
      "The CR LF (0D 0A), DOS EOF (1A), and final LF (0A) catch line-ending translation and premature EOF during faulty text-mode transfers.",
      "Immediately after the 8-byte signature comes the first chunk, normally IHDR."
    ]
  },
  "updated": "2026-05-29T00:00:00Z"
}