PNG, JPG and WebP: which one to use and how to convert
A plain explanation of the three formats people actually meet, when each is right, and how to convert without losing quality or transparency by accident.
Three formats cover almost everything you will run into. Choosing between them is not a matter of taste; each is built for a different kind of picture, and using the wrong one is what makes a logo look ragged or a photograph weigh ten megabytes.
The one paragraph version
- JPG is for photographs. Small files, no transparency, and a little detail is thrown away every time you save.
- PNG is for logos, screenshots and anything with flat colour or text. Keeps transparency and loses nothing, at the cost of size.
- WebP does both jobs and is typically thirty percent smaller than either. Every current browser supports it; a few email clients and older desktop programs still do not.
What you lose when you convert
Going from PNG to JPG removes transparency, and whatever was see-through becomes white or black. It also introduces compression that cannot be undone, which shows up first around text and sharp lines.
Going from JPG to PNG does not restore anything. The detail the JPG threw away is gone; the PNG simply stores the damaged version without further loss, in a much larger file. That conversion is only worth doing when you need transparency or a lossless working copy.
Where WebP is worth the switch
On a website, almost always. Same picture, smaller download, faster page. Keep a JPG or PNG copy for anything that might be emailed or opened in an older program, and use WebP for everything the site itself serves.
Metadata, which travels with your photos
A photograph from a phone carries the camera model, the date, often the exact location, and sometimes the owner's name. Uploading it to a forum or a marketplace publishes all of that.
Common questions
Does converting PNG to JPG reduce quality?
Yes, slightly and permanently, and more so at lower quality settings. For a photograph the difference is invisible at eighty percent. For a screenshot it is obvious.
Which format is best for printing?
PNG or TIFF for anything with text or line art, JPG at maximum quality for photographs. Print shops usually ask for 300 dpi, which is about a 2550 by 3300 pixel image for a letter sized page.
Why is my PNG so large?
PNG stores every pixel exactly. A photograph saved as PNG can be five times the size of the same picture as JPG with no visible benefit.
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