PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a bitmapped image format that employs lossless data compression. PNG was created to improve upon and replace GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) as an image-file format not requiring a patent license. It is pronounced "ping". PNG-8 supports palette-based 8-bit, grayscale or RGB images. PNG-24 supports transparency within 24-bit RBGA images. PNG was designed for transferring images on the Internet, not professional graphics, and so does not support other color spaces such as CMYK or embedded color profiles.