Embedding Color Profile in PNG in "Save as..."

[Daniel25200707lgcz]

Hello!

Is it possible (or was it ever possible) to embed a color profile (in my case, sRGB IEC61966-2.1) into a PNG file in either the "Save as" or "Save a copy" dialogue? Or – which is what I've been doing – to open a PNG that already has a sRGB profile embedded, edit it and just hit cmd-s to save and cmd-w to close?

Right now in the "Save as" or "Save a copy" dialogues, the option to embed a profile is greyed out and unchecked.

I just realized today that I might have been saving PNGs wrong for a long time because a lot of old PNGs I edited to not have a color profile embedded and instead show "Untagged RGB 8bpc" in Photoshop.

Seems like the only way that works for me right now is to use the "Export As..." dialogue and check "Embed Color Profile".

I would be really thankful if anyone could clear up my confusion.

Thank you!
Daniel

[Stephen_A_Marsh · Accepted solution]

@Daniel25200707lgcz – What is your Photoshop version?

This has been a long-standing design flaw (or perhaps a bug?) in both Open and Save as PNG, which was finally addressed in Photoshop 2022 (I can't remember the date/build number). Open would not recognise PNG as being able to hold an ICC profile and would remove it, while Save As would not embed the profile.

Previously only Save for Web and Export As would retain the profile, however, by design these methods also remove the PPM resolution metadata.

Photoshop 2022 can now finally Save As to include both the ICC profile and retain the resolution metadata. Prior to this, I was using ExifTool to embed an ICC profile on the saved image outside of Photoshop if I required the resolution metadata to be intact.

Edit – Links:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/fixed-issues-history.html

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-bugs/p-when-save-a-tif-or-jpg-as-png-the-icc-prof...

[Daniel25200707lgcz]

Hey Stephen!

I forgot to mention, I am running 22.5.8. Thank your for your answer, it all makes sense now. Crazy to think that such a basic feature might have been flawed for so long. I will try to either resort to CC2022 or use the Export feature then.