CONVERT PCX → PNG (PCX to PNG)
Fast, secure PCX to PNG conversion. No registration required.
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Lossless JPEG Q100 + standard COM segment padding for government & exam portals
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Automatic format identification and lossless transcoding across 201+ formats.
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EXIF & Color Verification Audit ISO Verified
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✓
GPS Coordinates (37.1773° N, 3.5986° W): Stripped (Zero Location Leak)
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✓
Device Serial & Lens ID: Stripped (EXIF / IPTC / XMP Clean)
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Color Space Profile: Display P3 → sRGB IEC61966-2.1
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Chroma Subsampling: 4:4:4 High Fidelity (High-fidelity algorithmic conversion)
HOW TO CONVERT PCX → PNG
Upload your PCX
Start by dropping the PCX onto the uploader. Files up to 25 MB go through on the free tier without registration; paid plans go up to 2 GB.
Conversion happens server-side
Our imagemagick-based pipeline reads the PCX pixel grid, preserves resolution and colour profile, and encodes a clean PNG.
Grab the result
A download button appears as soon as the PNG is ready. Save locally or share the short-lived URL.
Opening note — PCX is the legacy ZSoft/PC Paintbrush bitmap format from the DOS era. The PNG you want is two clicks away. A PCX to PNG conversion is almost always about making an image land cleanly in another piece of software. PCX Image is well-suited to its original niche, but PNG Image opens on more platforms or fits better into a publishing pipeline. Upload a PCX file above, pick any quality knobs, and download a ready-to-use PNG. In practice PCX is the legacy ZSoft/PC Paintbrush bitmap format from the DOS era. On the other end, PNG is the lossless image standard with alpha-channel transparency and deflate compression.
Why convert PCX to PNG
Converting keeps the picture recognisable end-to-end while changing the container that ships it. PNG typically wins on one of three fronts: broader software support, smaller files for the same visual quality, or features like transparency that PCX cannot express. The conversion itself is fast because both sides are raster formats.
PCX vs PNG — Technical specifications
Side-by-side comparison of the technical details.
PCX
- MIME type
- image/x-pcx
- Extension
- .pcx
- Header
- 128 bytes fixed
- Compression
- Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
- Creator
- ZSoft Corporation (1985)
- MIME Type
- image/x-pcx
- Category
- Raster & Vector Images
- Full Name
- PCX Image
- Conversion Engine
- IMAGEMAGICK
PNG
- MIME type
- image/png
- Extension
- .png
- Compression
- Lossless — DEFLATE (zlib)
- MIME Type
- image/png
- Category
- Raster & Vector Images
- Full Name
- PNG Image
- Conversion Engine
- IMAGEMAGICK
- Color depth
- 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per channel
- Max dimensions
- 2^31 − 1 pixels per side (2.1 billion)
- Transparency
- Full 8-bit alpha channel
- Standard
- ISO/IEC 15948:2004
| Specification | PCX | PNG |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | image/x-pcx | image/png |
| Extension | .pcx | .png |
| Header | 128 bytes fixed | — |
| Compression | Run-Length Encoding (RLE) | Lossless — DEFLATE (zlib) |
| Creator | ZSoft Corporation (1985) | — |
| MIME Type | image/x-pcx | image/png |
| Category | Raster & Vector Images | Raster & Vector Images |
| Full Name | PCX Image | PNG Image |
| Conversion Engine | IMAGEMAGICK | IMAGEMAGICK |
| Color depth | — | 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per channel |
| Max dimensions | — | 2^31 − 1 pixels per side (2.1 billion) |
| Transparency | — | Full 8-bit alpha channel |
| Standard | — | ISO/IEC 15948:2004 |
PCX vs PNG — Strengths and limitations
What each format does best, and where it falls short.
PCX Strengths
- Simple format — easy to parse in any language.
- RLE compression keeps flat-color images compact.
- Historic archive format for 1985-1995 PC art.
- Stable since 1985 with no breaking changes.
Limitations
- Legacy — no new content created as PCX in 2026.
- Inefficient for photographs (RLE is wrong algorithm).
- Limited to 24-bit color depth.
PNG Strengths
- Lossless compression — every save preserves the original pixels perfectly.
- Full 8-bit alpha channel for smooth transparency.
- Excellent for text, UI screenshots, logos, and line art.
- Royalty-free and an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 15948).
- Supports 16-bit color depth for high-fidelity work.
Limitations
- Much larger than JPEG for photographs (no perceptual compression).
- No native animation in most software (APNG support is inconsistent).
- No CMYK support — web and screen only, not print.
Quality & Compatibility
Converting keeps resolution, aspect ratio and colour profile identical to the source. Metadata (EXIF, XMP) transfers where PNG supports it; otherwise it is dropped. If the PCX contained an alpha channel and PNG does not support transparency, the background is flattened to white by default.
Tips for Best Results
- When uploading to Retina / high-DPI contexts, render the PNG at 2× the CSS pixel size; the crispness gap over 1× is noticeable on modern screens.
- Strip EXIF metadata from the PNG before publishing if the PCX came from a phone camera — it often contains GPS coordinates and device IDs.
- If the PCX is a screenshot of text or UI, prefer a lossless PNG target to avoid the JPEG-style ringing around glyph edges.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the codecs involved. If both PCX and PNG are lossy, the pixels are re-encoded and a small amount of detail is discarded — invisible at default quality settings on photographs. If PNG is lossless (PNG, TIFF, BMP) the output keeps every pixel of the decoded PCX exactly, but cannot recover detail that PCX had already compressed away.
Often yes, especially when PNG is lossless. PCX tuned for efficient web delivery will usually produce smaller files than PNG's default settings. If file size matters, drop the quality in Advanced or pick a more compressed target format instead.
KaijuConverter uploads over HTTPS, processes the image in an isolated container and deletes both the source and the output within two hours. No account is required, file contents are never logged, and we do not use uploads to train any model. For confidential material, the paid plan includes a data-processing agreement.
PCX Image
Source formatPCX (PiCture eXchange) is a legacy raster image format created by ZSoft for their PC Paintbrush program. It was one of the first widely supported image formats on IBM PC compatibles and uses simple run-length encoding compression.
PNG Image
Target formatPNG is a lossless image format that supports transparency. It is ideal for graphics, logos, screenshots, and any image where preserving exact pixel data is important.
Going the other way? Convert PNG back to PCX with the same engine.
Common Use Cases
Share across platforms
Send PNG files to anyone without worrying about whether they have the right software for PCX.
Embed in documents
Drop PNG output into Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint, Notion or a website without conversion warnings.
Optimize size
PNG often produces smaller files than PCX for web, email and storage.
Archive & future-proof
Store in a widely-supported format that will still open on future operating systems without legacy plugins.
PCX vs PNG — Typical file sizes
Approximate file sizes for common scenarios.
- Simple clipart 2-40 KB
- VGA-era screenshot (320×200) 30-80 KB
- Scanned page 200 KB - 2 MB
- Icon or small logo 2–20 KB
- UI screenshot (1920×1080) 200–800 KB
- High-res photo (12 MP) 10–30 MB
Need to Convert Gigabyte Archives or Mass Folders?
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High-throughput enterprise pipeline for files up to 2,048 MB, 50-file batches, ISO PDF/A, and priority processing.
Convert thousands of camera RAW files (CR3, NEF, ARW) to WebP, AVIF, or TIFF in one pass.
GPU-accelerated RAW development with end-to-end 16-bit ICC color profile management.
Related comparisons
See these formats side by side to understand which fits your use case best.
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