JPG vs PNG vs WebP: which image format should you use?
Updated October 9, 2026 · By Lee Palmer
JPEG, PNG and WebP are the three image formats every modern browser, phone and most upload forms understand. Each is good at different things. Picking the right one is often the easiest way to get a smaller file without losing visible quality.
The short answer
| Image type | Best format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Photos | JPEG, or WebP for your own website | Small files with natural-looking detail |
| Screenshots with text | PNG or WebP | Keeps letters sharp without blurry fringes |
| Logos and icons with transparency | PNG or WebP | Both keep transparent backgrounds |
| Forms and applications | Whatever the form asks for, usually JPEG | The widest compatibility |
| Images you will edit again | PNG | Lossless, so repeated saves do not degrade it |
JPEG (JPG)
JPEG has been the standard photo format since the 1990s and works almost everywhere. It uses lossy compression: it throws away fine detail that is hard to see, especially in colour, to save a great deal of space. At high quality settings the difference is invisible for most photos. At low settings you see blocky patches and halos around edges. JPEG does not support transparency. JPG and JPEG are the same format; the shorter name comes from older systems that allowed only three-letter extensions.
PNG
PNG is lossless: every pixel is stored exactly. That makes it ideal for screenshots, diagrams, logos and anything with sharp edges, text or flat colours, and it supports full transparency. The trade-off is size. A photo saved as PNG is often three to five times larger than a good JPEG. Converting a JPEG to PNG does not bring back detail JPEG has already removed; it only makes the file bigger.
WebP
WebP was designed for the web and can work either lossy, like JPEG, or lossless, like PNG. Lossy WebP photos are typically 25–35% smaller than JPEGs of similar quality, and WebP supports transparency in both modes. All current major browsers display it. The catch is compatibility outside the browser: some older photo apps, printers, government portals and upload forms still reject it. Use WebP for your own website and JPEG when you are not sure what the receiver accepts.
What about HEIC, AVIF and GIF?
HEIC is the default photo format on iPhones. It is efficient but not widely accepted on the web or in Windows apps. Set the camera to “Most Compatible”, or share the photo, which usually converts it to JPEG. AVIF is a newer web format that can be even smaller than WebP, but support in upload forms and apps is still limited. GIF is mainly used for short animations; it is limited to 256 colours, so photos look poor in it.
How to change format
Use the image converter to switch between JPEG, PNG and WebP while keeping the same dimensions, with a quality control and a size comparison before you download. To change format and size together, the image resizer has a format option as well.