FormatDrop
How-To Guide

How to Convert PCX to PNG

PCX is the image format from PC Paintbrush — the earliest mainstream PC paint program. Common in DOS-era games, ZSoft Paintbrush, and 1990s clip art collections. Converting PCX to PNG makes these legacy images viewable in any modern browser, image editor, or photo viewer.

Open PCX to PNG Converter

Step-by-step instructions

  1. 1

    Upload your PCX file

    Select your .pcx file. PCX files use 1, 4, 8, or 24-bit color depth. Most are 256-color palette images from DOS-era software.

    Go to converter
  2. 2

    Choose PNG as output

    Select PNG. The converter preserves the original palette and bit depth where possible, or upgrades to true-color RGB if needed for full fidelity.

  3. 3

    View or edit the PNG

    Open in any image viewer or editor. PNG supports transparency, so any transparent areas in the PCX are preserved as alpha channel.

Why convert PCX to PNG?

PCX is the format from DOS-era PC Paintbrush; PNG is the modern lossless web image format. Converting between them brings 1990s clip art and game graphics into the modern browser-friendly era.

Your files never leave your device

FormatDrop runs the conversion engine entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly. No file upload. No server. Nothing stored. You can verify this by opening DevTools → Network tab and watching: zero upload requests.

Frequently asked questions

Best command-line tool for PCX to PNG?
ImageMagick: `magick input.pcx output.png`. Or Pillow in Python: `from PIL import Image; Image.open('input.pcx').save('output.png')`.
Will the PNG be larger than the PCX?
Typically yes — PCX uses simple RLE compression that's efficient on flat-color graphics. PNG uses DEFLATE which is more efficient on photographic content. For 1990s clip art (typical PCX content), the file size is comparable.
Can I batch convert PCX to PNG?
ImageMagick: `magick mogrify -format png *.pcx` (Windows/Linux/Mac). Or shell loop: `for f in *.pcx; do magick "$f" "${f%.pcx}.png"; done`.
Convert PCX to PNG Now — Free

No account. No upload. Works in any browser.

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