File Format Guides
JPG vs PNG vs WebP: Which Image Format Should You Use?
JPG: practical for photographs
JPG uses lossy compression and is supported almost everywhere. It is often effective for photographs and complex color variation, but it cannot store transparency. Repeated edits and saves can accumulate compression artifacts, and sharp text or diagrams may look less clean.
- Best fit: photos, broad sharing, older systems, and JPG-only forms.
- Tradeoff: lossy encoding and no alpha transparency.
- Convert It options include JPG to PNG, JPG to WebP, and supported inputs to JPG.
PNG: lossless graphics and transparency
PNG preserves pixel values with lossless compression and supports an alpha channel. It is a strong choice for screenshots, logos, diagrams, text-heavy graphics, and assets that need transparent edges. Photographic PNGs can be much larger than equivalent JPG or WebP files.
- Best fit: graphics, screenshots, editing intermediates, and transparency.
- Tradeoff: potentially large files for photos.
- Converting JPG to PNG stops additional lossy encoding but cannot restore lost JPG detail.
WebP: efficient modern delivery
WebP supports lossy and lossless encoding and can support transparency. It is widely useful on modern websites, often producing efficient delivery files, but compatibility should still be checked for older applications and specialized upload systems. Convert It’s current still-image path rejects animation rather than silently processing only one frame.
- Best fit: modern web images where the receiving platform supports WebP.
- Tradeoff: less universal compatibility than JPG in legacy workflows.
- Use WebP to JPG when a recipient or application requires conventional JPEG.
A simple decision guide
For a photo emailed to many recipients, JPG is the safest default. For a logo over different backgrounds, use PNG or another alpha-capable format. For a modern website where you control delivery and fallbacks, WebP is often useful. Preserve the best available original before creating delivery copies.
Changing formats does not guarantee a smaller file or better image. Content, quality settings, dimensions, metadata, and previous compression all matter. When transparency is converted to JPG, Convert It uses a white background.