JPG vs PNG vs WebP: Which Image Format Should You Use?
Most everyday images are JPG, PNG or WebP. Each one stores pixels differently, so the right choice depends on what's in the picture and where it's going.
The short answer
- Photos: JPG, or WebP if the site or app supports it.
- Logos, icons, screenshots, anything with transparency: PNG, or WebP with transparency.
- Websites: WebP for the smallest files at similar quality, with JPG or PNG as a fallback for old software.
How each format works
JPG (JPEG) uses lossy compression. It throws away fine detail your eye is unlikely to notice, which makes photos small. It has no transparency, and each re-save loses a little more detail.
PNG is lossless. Every pixel is stored exactly, and it supports transparency, including soft edges. That makes it ideal for graphics and text, but photos as PNG are often 3–10× larger than the same photo as JPG.
WebP can be lossy or lossless and supports transparency. At similar visual quality, a lossy WebP photo is usually 25–35% smaller than a JPG. All current major browsers display it; some older desktop apps and email clients don't.
Common mistakes
- Converting a JPG to PNG “to improve quality”. It can't bring back detail the JPG already discarded. See JPG to PNG for why the PNG gets bigger.
- Saving a logo with a transparent background as JPG: the background becomes solid.
- Saving screenshots of text as low-quality JPG: letters get fuzzy halos.
Converting between them
Use JPG to PNG, PNG to JPG, JPG to WebP or PNG to WebP. They run in your browser and show the file size before and after.