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JPG vs PNG vs WebP: which format to use and when
Short answer
- Use JPG for photos and form uploads, PNG for text-heavy screenshots and logos with a transparent background, and WebP when you want a small image for the web.
- Converting PNG to JPG fills transparent areas with white, and converting back to PNG will not bring the transparency back.
- Converting a JPG to PNG does not improve quality; it usually just makes the file bigger.
How the three formats differ
| JPG (JPEG) | PNG | WebP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy | Lossless | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparency | Not supported | Supported | Supported |
| Best for | Photos, smooth gradients | Screenshots with text, logos, diagrams | Photos and graphics for websites |
| Compatibility | Almost everywhere | Almost everywhere | Most current browsers; some upload forms reject it |
| Weak point | Loses a little quality each time it is re-saved; smudges around text | Large files for photos | Older software and some official sites will not open it |
JPG and JPEG are the same format with a different spelling of the extension. The iPhone’s HEIC is yet another format that many sites do not accept; see iPhone HEIC photos won’t open on your PC.
Choosing for your situation
| Situation | Format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Photo for an application or official form | JPG | The most widely accepted format at a reasonable size |
| Screenshot of an error, a table or a document | PNG | Text edges stay crisp |
| Logo or signature with a transparent background | PNG | JPG cannot store transparency |
| Images for a blog or online shop | JPG or WebP | WebP can be smaller if the platform accepts it |
| An original you will keep editing | Keep the original format | Repeated conversion and re-saving can add up losses |
How to convert
- Open the images in Convert Image. It reads JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, BMP and SVG files.
- Pick the output format: JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or BMP. Only the formats your browser can create are available; the others are greyed out. For JPG, WebP and AVIF a quality slider (86% by default) controls the trade-off between size and detail.
- Click Process files, download the result and open it to check the background, the sharpness of any text and the colours.
- If there is a size limit, set a target in Compress Image. Its results are saved as JPG or WebP (or AVIF where the browser supports it), so it is not the right tool if the file must stay a PNG.
What changes when you convert
- Transparency: converting PNG or WebP to JPG fills transparent areas with white. BMP output does not keep transparency either.
- Quality: detail that was lost when a photo was saved as JPG does not come back when you convert it to PNG.
- Animation and metadata: animated images, colour profiles and camera information are not guaranteed to survive. To remove camera and location data on purpose, use Remove Image Metadata.
- HEIC, TIFF and GIF: Convert Image does not read every format. For iPhone HEIC photos, use HEIC to JPG in Safari 17 or later.