Legacy ImageMagick Discussions Archive

Ok, this was my mistake. I should have been more careful reading format descriptions.
png48: is binary alpha. I probably had this from a different conversion session, where it was warranted. But in this case it did some weird stuff to the resulting image, like turning background black or losing the text layers.
I would like to know, why the hell it did that, but for now, png32: solved the immediate issue.

There is usually no need to specify PNG32: or PNG48: or whatever. IM will pick the most appropriate one for you. In my last example, I didn't specify which to use.

PNG32: means four channels (RGBA) of 8 bits each. PNG48: means three channels (RGB only, no alpha) of 16 bits each. So PNG48:, which you had, will always remove the alpha channel. PNG32: will force the output to be only 8 bits/channel/pixel, you so will discard half the data from a Q16 input.

I don't want "most appropriate".
I want the one that suits my needs.
Magic is okay, when you don't care for the end results.