Four formats cover almost every image on the web today, and each one wins in a different situation. This guide explains what each is good at, where it falls short, and how to pick without overthinking it.
The short version
- Photos to share or upload anywhere: JPG.
- Screenshots, logos, text and anything that needs exact pixels: PNG.
- Website images where speed matters: WebP, or AVIF if you can serve a fallback.
- Transparent images on the web: WebP or PNG. Not JPG.
Side by side
| Format | Compression | Transparency | Animation | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNG | Lossless | Yes | Via APNG | Everywhere |
| JPG | Lossy | No | No | Everywhere |
| WebP | Lossy or lossless | Yes | Yes | All current browsers, some older apps can't open it |
| AVIF | Lossy or lossless | Yes | Yes | Current browsers, patchy in other software |
PNG: exact pixels, transparency, bigger files
PNG compresses without throwing anything away, so what you save is exactly what you get back. That makes it the right choice for screenshots, interface graphics, diagrams, logos and anything with sharp edges or text. It also supports a full alpha channel, so shadows and soft edges can sit on any background.
The cost is size. Photographs contain millions of subtly different colors that lossless compression can't squeeze much, so a PNG photo can be many times larger than the same photo as a JPG.
JPG: the universal photo format
JPG discards detail that people are unlikely to notice, which is why photos shrink so much. Every browser, phone, printer and upload form accepts it. Its weaknesses are no transparency, visible artifacts around sharp edges and text at lower quality settings, and loss that compounds every time you re-save. See how to convert PNG to JPG without losing quality for settings that avoid the worst of it.
WebP: the practical modern default
WebP does what PNG and JPG do, plus animation, usually in a smaller file. A lossy WebP with transparency is far lighter than the PNG it replaces, and a lossless WebP is typically smaller than PNG for the same pixels. All current major browsers display it. The main reason not to use it is the audience: if people will download the image and open it in older software, give them a JPG or PNG.
AVIF: smallest files, slower to make
AVIF often beats WebP and JPG on size at similar visual quality, particularly on photographs with smooth gradients. It supports transparency and wide color. Encoding is slow, and tooling outside browsers is still catching up. A common approach is to serve AVIF to browsers that support it, with WebP or JPG as the fallback, using the <picture> element.
How to choose
- Does it need transparency? If yes, use PNG, WebP or AVIF. If no, JPG becomes an option.
- Is it a photo or a graphic? Photos favor JPG, WebP or AVIF. Graphics with flat color and text favor PNG or lossless WebP.
- Who will open it? For the public web, WebP is safe. For files people will download and use in other software, JPG and PNG are safest.
- Do you control the delivery? If you can serve fallbacks, AVIF and WebP save the most bandwidth.
Convert between them
You can do these conversions in your browser with no upload: PNG to JPG, PNG to WebP and PNG to AVIF. If you need to go the other way, try WebP to PNG or JPG to PNG.