JPG, PNG and WebP all do the same basic job — storing a picture as a file — but they make very different trade-offs. Picking the wrong one is one of the most common (and easiest to fix) causes of bloated websites and blurry-looking graphics.
JPEG remains the most universally supported photo format, and for good reason: its lossy compression is specifically tuned for the kind of gradual color and brightness changes found in real-world photography. It doesn't support transparency, and it isn't ideal for flat-color graphics or text, where its compression tends to introduce visible "ringing" artifacts around sharp edges.
Use JPG for: photographs, complex images with lots of color variation, anything where small file size matters more than pixel-perfect edges.
PNG uses lossless compression, so it reproduces the original image exactly — every pixel, every time. It also supports full transparency (an alpha channel), which JPEG cannot do. The trade-off is size: a detailed photo saved as PNG can be five to ten times larger than the same photo saved as JPEG, for no visible benefit at normal viewing sizes.
Use PNG for: logos, icons, screenshots, diagrams, text-heavy graphics, and any image that needs a transparent background.
WebP, developed by Google, supports both lossy and lossless modes in a single format, along with transparency — effectively covering what JPEG and PNG do separately, usually at a smaller file size than either for equivalent quality. Browser support is now excellent across Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge, which has made WebP a practical default for web images.
Use WebP for: almost anything web-facing, when you want smaller files than JPEG/PNG without a visible quality trade-off, and your platform supports uploading it.
Small files, no transparency, some quality loss, universal compatibility.
Exact quality, supports transparency, larger files.
Smaller than both, supports transparency, near-universal modern support.
iPhones default to saving photos as HEIC, a highly efficient format that's roughly half the size of an equivalent JPEG at the same quality. The catch is compatibility — many websites, older devices, and some Windows/Android apps still don't open HEIC directly, which is why converting to JPG or PNG before sharing is often the safer choice.
Our Convert Format tool switches between JPG, PNG, WebP and HEIC directly in your browser, so you can test a file in a couple of formats before deciding.
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