The APNGKit project is a high-performance framework for loading, displaying, and animating images in the UIKit / AppKit ecosystem (iOS, macOS, tvOS), specifically targeting the APNG (Animated PNG) image format. Unlike traditional static PNG images, APNG supports frame-by-frame animation with full-color images and transparency — yielding better visual fidelity than GIFs while remaining efficient. APNGKit offers a friendly API (e.g. APNGImage, APNGImageView) that behaves similarly to the standard image/image-view pattern, making it easy for iOS/macOS developers to adopt without learning complex new APIs. It handles loading, decoding, timing, and rendering of animated PNG frames, providing smooth animations, correct color and transparency handling, and performance optimizations. The library supports modern Apple platforms (iOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS) and works with standard dependency managers (Swift Package Manager, CocoaPods), making integration into existing projects straightforward.
Features
- Full APNG (Animated PNG) support: load, decode, and render animated PNG images in iOS/macOS/tvOS/visionOS apps
- API similar to UIImage/UIImageView — easy to adopt and integrate into existing UI code
- High performance decoding & rendering, with correct color, transparency, and timing handling
- Works with modern Apple platforms and supports up-to-date deployment targets (iOS 12+, recent macOS, etc.)
- Installable via Swift Package Manager or CocoaPods for easy integration in projects
- Enables richer, high-quality animations with better color depth & transparency than GIFs