Illustrator changing CMYK color space to RGB

[jenac51675526]

Looking for advice in resolving a color space issue -- other threads have only lead to dead ends. Would love some help!

Problem: When I export a .png from a CMYK Illustrator doc, it uses the RGB color space.

Context: (relevant photos included!)

1. My mac OS is updated (Catalina 10.15.6) and my CC Illustrator software is up to date (v 24.2.1).
2. When creating my document, I've chosen Color Mode as CMYK, and I can double check that is in the doc (both File > Document Color Mode and the file header bar show CMYK).
3. All of the colors I use in the doc are CMYK.
4. I use Export As > .png to save my artboard. 

Outcome: When I right click on my file in Finder with the "get info" option, it shows the color space to be RGB. (And if I open it in Photoshop 2020, it shows it to be RGB as well). 

Question: Why is this happening and what can I do to fix it so that it exports in CMYK? Does it have to do with the png options after exporting?

Thank you!

Photoshop shows the image is RGBGet Info screen shows color space as RGBOriginal Illustrator file showing CMYKMy export options - is the issue here?The actual exported file.

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[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

CMYK is not supported by the PNG file format, there is only RGB

[jenac51675526]

Ok great to know, thank you!

Follow up question: how am I supposed to save a CMYK image with a transparent background, since JPGs can't do transparency? Thanks!

[Ton Frederiks]

Tiff or PSD support transparency.

[Ton Frederiks]

I must add that Illustrator does not support transparency in a CMYK Tiff file (Photoshop does).

But to export a CMYK image with transparency, Photoshop PSD is the right format.

Do you need to use an image format? PDF is much better when you want to keep the quality of your Illustrator files.

[jenac51675526]

Thanks for this info, I appreciate it! I am trying to save and share logo files for others to use for both print and web, and I was hoping to keep it simple for them by sharing png files. But what would you recommend as the best way to share transparent CMYK logo files for easy use? Thanks!

[Ton Frederiks]

Share your CMYK logo for print as PDF and share the logo for web as PNG, this will be an RGB file, but that is the right color for web use. You may need to save the PNG images at various sizes, images don't scale very well.