PNG vs JPG vs WebP — Which Format to Use and When
Every image format is a trade between three things: file size, quality, and compatibility. Here is the honest rundown of the three formats you actually meet day to day — and when to convert between them.
JPG: photos, and nothing else
JPG compresses by throwing away detail your eye mostly will not miss. For photographs it is unbeatable: small files, universal support. For text, screenshots, or flat graphics it is the wrong tool — edges blur and re-saving degrades quality further. And JPG has no transparency: every pixel is opaque.
PNG: sharp edges and transparency
PNG is lossless — every pixel survives exactly. That makes it right for screenshots, logos, diagrams, and anything with text or transparency. The price is size: a photograph saved as PNG can be ten times heavier than the same photo as JPG.
WebP: the modern default
WebP does both jobs: lossy compression that beats JPG by roughly a quarter at equal quality, and transparency like PNG. Every modern browser displays it; most websites now serve it. Its one weakness is compatibility with older software — some editors, print services, and upload forms still refuse it.
The conversion rules of thumb
- Photo going somewhere picky → JPG. Convert PNG to JPG or WebP to JPG when an upload form or print service complains.
- Logo or screenshot → PNG. Convert JPG to PNG when you need transparency or cannot afford compression artifacts.
- Image for a website → WebP. JPG to WebP and PNG to WebP typically cut the file size by 25–35 percent with no visible loss.
- WebP that a tool refuses → PNG. WebP to PNG is the universal fallback — lossless, accepted everywhere.
One honest caveat about GIF conversions: browsers decode only the first frame of an animated GIF, so converting a GIF keeps one frame, not the animation.
Still too big?
If the converted file is heavier than you need, compress it to a target size in megabytes. And everything above runs in your browser tab — the image never gets uploaded anywhere.