diff --git a/generic/png.c b/generic/png.c
index 56132366..75782bb 100755
--- a/generic/png.c
+++ b/generic/png.c
@@ -198,11 +198,17 @@ static int libpng_(Main_load)(lua_State *L)
   return 2;
 }
 
+
 static int libpng_(Main_save)(lua_State *L)
 {
   THTensor *tensor = luaT_checkudata(L, 2, torch_Tensor);
   const char *file_name = luaL_checkstring(L, 1);
-
+  const int save_to_file = luaL_checkint(L, 3);
+  
+  struct libpng_inmem_write_struct _inmem;
+ 
+  THByteTensor* tensor_dest = NULL;
+  
   int width=0, height=0;
   png_byte color_type = 0;
   png_byte bit_depth = 8;
@@ -211,11 +217,17 @@ static int libpng_(Main_save)(lua_State *L)
   png_infop info_ptr;
   png_bytep * row_pointers;
   libpng_errmsg errmsg;
+  FILE *fp=NULL;
 
   /* get dims and contiguous tensor */
   THTensor *tensorc = THTensor_(newContiguous)(tensor);
   real *tensor_data = THTensor_(data)(tensorc);
   long depth=0;
+  
+  if (save_to_file == 0) {
+    tensor_dest = luaT_checkudata(L, 4, "torch.ByteTensor");
+  }
+  
   if (tensorc->nDimension == 3) {
     depth = tensorc->size[0];
     height = tensorc->size[1];
@@ -234,27 +246,34 @@ static int libpng_(Main_save)(lua_State *L)
   else if (depth == 3) color_type = PNG_COLOR_TYPE_RGB;
   else if (depth == 1) color_type = PNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAY;
 
-  /* create file */
-  FILE *fp = fopen(file_name, "wb");
-  if (!fp)
-    luaL_error(L, "[write_png_file] File %s could not be opened for writing", file_name);
-
   /* initialize stuff */
   png_ptr = png_create_write_struct(PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, NULL, NULL, NULL);
 
   if (!png_ptr)
     luaL_error(L, "[write_png_file] png_create_write_struct failed");
-
+  
   png_set_error_fn(png_ptr, &errmsg, libpng_error_fn, NULL);
 
   info_ptr = png_create_info_struct(png_ptr);
   if (!info_ptr)
     luaL_error(L, "[write_png_file] png_create_info_struct failed");
-
-  if (setjmp(png_jmpbuf(png_ptr)))
-    luaL_error(L, "[write_png_file] Error during init_io: %s", errmsg.str);
-
-  png_init_io(png_ptr, fp);
+  
+  
+  /* create file */
+  if(save_to_file)
+  {
+    fp = fopen(file_name, "wb");
+    if (!fp)
+        luaL_error(L, "[write_png_file] File %s could not be opened for writing", file_name);
+    
+    if (setjmp(png_jmpbuf(png_ptr)))
+        luaL_error(L, "[write_png_file] Error during init_io: %s", errmsg.str);
+    png_init_io(png_ptr, fp);
+  } else {
+    _inmem.inmem=NULL;
+    _inmem.inmem_size=0;
+    png_set_write_fn(png_ptr, &_inmem, libpng_userWriteData, NULL);
+  }
 
   /* write header */
   if (setjmp(png_jmpbuf(png_ptr)))
@@ -304,8 +323,16 @@ static int libpng_(Main_save)(lua_State *L)
   free(row_pointers);
 
   /* cleanup */
-  fclose(fp);
+  if(fp) fclose(fp);
   THTensor_(free)(tensorc);
+  
+  if (save_to_file == 0) {
+
+    THByteTensor_resize1d(tensor_dest, _inmem.inmem_size);  /* will fail if it's not a Byte Tensor */
+    unsigned char* tensor_dest_data = THByteTensor_data(tensor_dest);
+    memcpy(tensor_dest_data, _inmem.inmem, _inmem.inmem_size);
+    free(_inmem.inmem);
+  }
   return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/init.lua b/init.lua
index 24748cf..d1c5f2b 100644
--- a/init.lua
+++ b/init.lua
@@ -173,7 +173,8 @@ local function savePNG(filename, tensor)
       dok.error('libpng package not found, please install libpng','image.savePNG')
    end
    tensor = clampImage(tensor)
-   tensor.libpng.save(filename, tensor)
+   local save_to_file = 1
+   tensor.libpng.save(filename, tensor, save_to_file)
 end
 rawset(image, 'savePNG', savePNG)
 
@@ -203,6 +204,20 @@ function image.getPNGsize(filename)
    return torch.Tensor().libpng.size(filename)
 end
 
+local function compressPNG(tensor)
+   if not xlua.require 'libpng' then
+      dok.error('libpng package not found, please install libpng',
+         'image.compressPNG')
+   end
+   tensor = clampImage(tensor)
+   local b = torch.ByteTensor()
+   local save_to_file = 0
+   tensor.libpng.save("", tensor, save_to_file, b)
+   return b
+end
+rawset(image, 'compressPNG', compressPNG)
+
+
 local function processJPG(img, depth, tensortype)
    local MAXVAL = 255
    if tensortype ~= 'byte' then
diff --git a/png.c b/png.c
index e7a9d83..1e3f864 100644
--- a/png.c
+++ b/png.c
@@ -38,6 +38,25 @@ libpng_userReadData(png_structp pngPtrSrc, png_bytep dest, png_size_t length)
   src->offset += length;
 }
 
+
+struct libpng_inmem_write_struct
+{
+  unsigned char *inmem;  /* destination memory (if saving to memory) */
+  unsigned long inmem_size;  /* destination memory size (bytes) */
+};
+
+/*
+ * Call back for writing png data to memory
+ */
+static void libpng_userWriteData(png_structp  png_ptr, png_bytep data, png_size_t length) {
+    struct libpng_inmem_write_struct *p = (struct libpng_inmem_write_struct*)png_get_io_ptr(png_ptr);
+    p->inmem=realloc(p->inmem,p->inmem_size+length);
+    memmove(p->inmem+p->inmem_size,data,length);
+    p->inmem_size+=length;
+}
+
+
+
 /*
  * Error message wrapper (single member struct to preserve `str` size info)
  */
diff --git a/test/test.lua b/test/test.lua
index 0a25cd9..839900a 100644
--- a/test/test.lua
+++ b/test/test.lua
@@ -410,8 +410,21 @@ function test.CompressAndDecompress()
   img_compressed = image.compressJPG(img, quality)
   local size_25 = img_compressed:size(1)
   tester:assertlt(size_25, size_100, 'compressJPG quality setting error! ')
+
 end
 
+function test.CompressAndDecompressPNG()
+  local img = image.lena()
+
+  local img_compressed_png = image.compressPNG(img)
+  local size_png = img_compressed_png:size(1)
+  local img_decompressed_png = image.decompressPNG(img_compressed_png)
+  local err_png = img_decompressed_png - img
+  local mean_err_png = err_png:mean()
+  local std_err_png  = err_png:std()
+  tester:assertlt(mean_err_png, precision_mean, 'compressPNG error is too high! ')
+  tester:assertlt(std_err_png, precision_std, 'compressPNG error is too high! ')
+end
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- Lab conversion test
 -- These tests break if someone removes lena from the repo