PNGs are losing color profile upon opening.

[Michael DeLeon]

When I open a PNG image that is tagged with Adobe RGB the color profile will be lost and display as Untagged RGB. Colors are muted and flat contrast. This happens when opening from macOs finder and also when opening from Lightroom Classic. Opening file in Photoshop 2020 from finder solves the issue. This is an intemintent issue but happens about 1/4 of the time.

Adobe Photoshop 2022 v 23.3.1

macOS 12.0.1

MacBook Pro M1pro

[thedigitaldog]

I just tried on my end, no issues. But maybe I'm not doing this correctly:

Open an image (it was in ProPhoto RGB), Save as PNG; so new document. 

Open that PNG, and the tag remains. 

When I try opening from the finder (double click), Preview opens. But it's color managed and matches Photoshop. If I open the PNG from within Photoshop, again, all is fine. 

[Michael DeLeon]

I'm adding a Dropbox link to a file it happens with repeatedly. I was wrong though about the color profile being Adobe RGB. It seems to be happening regularly with sRGB IEC61966-2.1 files.

If dropbox is not allowed here please let me know how to link. I tried to upload the file here but it was too large.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ekyr3cbrj6opam3/Be%20Right%20Back%20-%20BRB-Master%20Front.png?dl=0

[thedigitaldog]

Your PNG did come to me untagged. 

I used Assign Profile to assign sRGB. Save to my desktop and renamed. Opened in PS, tag remains. 

It's here in my public dropbox
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w6f8hj61j25gw70/V2Be%20Right%20Back%20-%20BRB-Master%20Front.png?dl=0

When you open it in PS, is the tag still there? 

[Michael DeLeon]

Thanks for the help. It's my understanding that the file I posted is tagged as sRGB and is losing it's profile when opened in Photoshop 2022. I should have found a more colorful image as you can see the color change when it opens. If you check the file by opening it in Photoshop 2020, it shows as sRBG. If I find a more colorful example, I will post that as you can clearly see a difference from the finder or Preview compared to Photoshop 2022.

Yes, the file you sent to me does keep the color profile when I open it. The original file does not.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

In recent versions, prior to version 2022, the Save As command would not embed an ICC profile with PNG images, but it would retain the resolution metadata.

From your sample, ExifTool reports that there is no ICC profile – but the resolution metadata is there (this rounds up to 300ppi):

[PNG-pHYs]      PixelsPerUnitX      : 11811
[PNG-pHYs]      PixelsPerUnitY      : 11811
[PNG-pHYs]      PixelUnits          : meters

Export > Save for Web (Legacy) does include the ICC profile, however, it strips out the resolution metadata.

Now in v2022, Save As does include the ICC profile, bringing back feature parity with Save for Web. If you require both ICC and resolution info, then Save As is the only option as all of the Export options are designed to remove the resolution info.

So it appears that the ICC profile is being lost on save as it is not there in the saved file, it is not being lost on open. Hope this makes sense.