PNG vs JPG vs WebP: Which Image Format Should You Use?

The rest of this guide explains why, so you can make the call for images that do not fit neatly into one of those boxes.

JPG makes files small by throwing away detail the eye is unlikely to miss, such as tiny variations in colour across a sky or a face. On a photo this is almost invisible, and a JPG is often five to ten times smaller than the same photo stored without loss.

The catch is that the discarded detail is gone for good. Each time a JPG is edited and saved again, a little more is lost. And around sharp edges, such as black text on a white background, JPG compression leaves faint smudges and blocky patches that are easy to spot in screenshots.

PNG stores every pixel exactly. Nothing is thrown away, so text, lines, and flat areas of colour stay perfectly crisp, and you can edit and re-save a PNG as many times as you like without it degrading.

PNG also supports transparency. A logo saved as PNG can sit on any background colour without a white box around it, which JPG cannot do.

The cost is size. For graphics with large flat areas, PNG files are small. For photographs, a PNG is typically several times larger than a JPG that looks the same, which is why a phone screenshot of a photo can be surprisingly heavy.

WebP was designed for the web and can work either way: compressed like JPG for photos, or exact like PNG for graphics. It also supports transparency. For the same visible quality, WebP files are usually around a quarter to a third smaller than JPG.

Every current web browser shows WebP, so it is an excellent choice for images on a website you control. It is less suitable for email attachments, documents, and printing, where some software still does not handle it well. Read more in our guide to what WebP is and when to use it.

Converting a PNG photo to JPG is the quickest way to cut its size, and is often required by forms that only accept JPG. Transparent areas become white, which suits documents. Use PNG to JPG, which also accepts WebP files you have saved from the web.

Converting a JPG to PNG does not restore lost detail, but it stops further loss while you edit, and some software and print services insist on PNG. Use JPG to PNG.

For a website, convert to WebP after resizing the image to the size it is actually displayed.

JPEG and JPG are the same format with two spellings. Any tool or form that accepts one accepts the other.

HEIC is the format many iPhones use for photos. It is efficient but not universally supported; iPhones can be set to save photos as JPG instead, and most share sheets convert automatically when sending to apps that need it.

GIF is an old format limited to 256 colours. It is still used for short animations, but for still images, PNG does everything GIF does with better quality.