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2026-01-27 6 min read

PNG-8 vs PNG-24: Reducing Your Illustrations' Weight by 70%

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PulsConv Engineering

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Understanding the difference between indexed colors and Truecolor for your graphic exports.

The PNG format is essential for transparency, but it can quickly become very heavy. **PNG-24 (Truecolor)**: Handles 16 million colors. It's Photoshop's default format. Ideal for photos with transparency, but very heavy. **PNG-8 (Indexed)**: Limits the image to 256 intelligently chosen colors. For an illustration, a logo, or a software interface, the visual difference is zero, but the file weighs 3 times less. **Dithering**: Our engine uses advanced dithering algorithms to simulate smooth gradients even in 256 colors. Use PulsConv to 'crush' your useless PNG-24s into optimized PNG-8s before integrating them into your web projects.

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