JPG vs PNG vs WebP: which image format should you use?

Save an image and you are asked to pick a format. Download one and it arrives as WebP, which your old photo editor will not open. Upload a logo and it comes out with a white box around it. Each of these comes down to the format.

The three you meet most often are JPG, PNG and WebP, and each has a clear purpose.

The short answer

• Photos: JPG for maximum compatibility, WebP for the smallest files.
• Screenshots, diagrams, text and logos: PNG.
• Anything that needs a transparent background: PNG or WebP, never JPG.
• Images for a website: WebP in most cases, with JPG or PNG when you need a fallback.

JPG: the universal photo format

JPG (also written JPEG) has been around since the early 1990s and opens on practically every device and program. It uses lossy compression, which throws away fine detail the human eye is not very sensitive to, especially subtle color changes.

For photographs this works very well. A photo saved as JPG at a reasonable quality setting looks just like the original and takes far less space than an uncompressed version.

JPG has two weaknesses. Lossy compression struggles with crisp lines, so screenshots and diagrams saved as JPG often get fuzzy halos around letters (compression artifacts). And JPG cannot store transparent areas: a logo with a transparent background becomes a logo on a solid rectangle, usually white.

Every time you edit and re-save a JPG, it also loses a bit more detail. Once or twice is fine. Dozens of times will show.

Use JPG for photos you email, share or print, and for anything that has to open everywhere.

PNG: lossless and transparent

PNG uses lossless compression. When you open a PNG, you get back exactly the pixels that were saved. It also supports full transparency, including soft edges and semi-transparent shadows.

That makes PNG a good fit for:

• screenshots, where text must stay sharp;
• logos and icons that need a transparent background;
• diagrams, charts and illustrations with flat colors;
• images you plan to keep editing, so quality does not degrade.

The price is file size. A photo saved as PNG is typically several times larger than the same photo as JPG, because lossless compression cannot discard the detail that JPG drops. Converting a photo to PNG will make it bigger and will not make it look better.

Use PNG for screenshots, graphics, logos and anything with transparency or text.

WebP: the modern all-rounder

Google developed WebP for the web. It can do what both older formats do: lossy compression for photos, lossless compression for graphics, and transparency in both modes. At similar visual quality, WebP files are usually smaller than JPG for photos and smaller than PNG for graphics.

All current major browsers support WebP, which is why so many websites now serve their images in it. It is also why "save image as" sometimes gives you a .webp file.

The catch is compatibility outside the browser. Most up-to-date operating systems and apps open WebP, but some older software, upload forms and printing services still do not. If you hit that wall, convert the file with a WebP to JPG converter.

Use WebP for images on websites and blogs, and to save space when you know the recipient can open it.

Side-by-side comparison

	JPG	PNG	WebP
Compression	Lossy	Lossless	Lossy or lossless
Transparency	No	Yes	Yes
Best for	Photos	Graphics, text, logos	Web images
File size for photos	Small	Large	Smallest
Compatibility	Everywhere	Everywhere	Modern browsers and apps

When converting helps, and when it does not

You can convert between formats in seconds with our image converter, but only some directions are worth it.

PNG to JPG helps for photos. If you have a photo or a colorful screenshot saved as PNG and the file is huge, the PNG to JPG converter usually shrinks it dramatically. Transparent areas become white.

JPG to PNG rarely helps. It cannot restore lost detail, and the file gets bigger. It is useful when you need to edit an image many times and do not want each save to degrade it further. For that, the JPG to PNG converter does the job.

Converting to WebP helps on websites. If you run one, switching large JPG and PNG images to WebP usually cuts page weight noticeably and speeds up loading.

WebP to JPG is about compatibility. Quality and size stay roughly the same, and the image opens in older software.

Quality settings explained

For JPG and WebP you can choose a quality level, usually from 1 to 100. Many people read it as a percentage of the original quality. It actually controls how aggressively the encoder discards detail.

As a rough guide:

• 85 to 95 is visually almost identical to the original, good for photos you care about.
• 70 to 80 is the sweet spot for web and email. Most people will not notice any difference.
• Below 60, artifacts start to show, especially in skies, skin and gradients.

If you need a smaller file, reducing the image dimensions usually works better than pushing the quality very low. Our resize tool and compressor both do this and show the size before and after.

What about other formats?

You may also run into GIF, HEIC and AVIF. GIF is old, limited to 256 colors and mainly used for simple animations. HEIC is the default photo format on recent iPhones; it is efficient but not supported everywhere. AVIF is newer and can produce even smaller files than WebP, with support still growing. For everyday use, JPG, PNG and WebP cover nearly everything.

Which one to pick

Use JPG for photos, PNG for graphics and anything with transparency or text, and WebP when the image lives on the web and you want it small. If you need to switch formats, our converters run in your browser, so the images stay on your device.