: Are there concrete benefits in using png over fonts for icons? I recently noticed some major website (like this one) do not use font-awesome or similar projects to display their icons. Rather

@Radia820

I don't see why one should start using png in 2015. I'd rather say major websites are usually not the first ones to go for new technologies, simply because they have large codebases!

I'd say png, even in sprite form is not a good option anymore. Because you need different sizes for different display sizes. Vector format, wheter svg or font implementations make your life so easier as you know same graphics can be shown on any device sizes sharp and crisp!

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@Lengel546

png can be merged (all your site's png in one big png) to optimise the size. there is tool like compass (http://compass-style.org/) who automatize this functionnality. Then images are called with image position to display desired image on desired style.
For exemple i used 600ko icons, and when it is merged it does 111ko, and if you use browser cache, only one item need to be cached for the whole site.

example: compass-style.org/help/tutorials/spriting/

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@Marchetta884

One major advantage of using PNGs is showing icons with more than one color. Also it's well supported by older browsers, althrough the IE 6 will have problems with transparent PNGs.

You might want to check font icons vs png icons on StackOverflow for a good comparison.

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