WebP vs JPG vs PNG: Which Image Format Should You Use?

Use JPG for photos you need to share or upload anywhere, PNG for screenshots, logos and anything that needs a transparent background, and WebP for images on your own website, where its smaller files make pages load faster. If a WebP image won't open or upload somewhere, convert it to JPG or PNG with an image converter.

That's the short answer. The rest of this guide explains why, so you can choose confidently.

The three formats at a glance

JPG: the universal photo format

JPG uses lossy compression: it discards detail the eye barely notices, such as subtle colour variation in a sky, to make files much smaller. At quality settings around 75–85%, most people can't tell the difference from the original.

Use JPG when:

• you're sharing or uploading photos (forms, email, marketplaces, print shops);
• the place you're uploading to doesn't list WebP;
• you need maximum compatibility with old software.

Avoid JPG for screenshots, text and logos. Compression creates fuzzy "ringing" around sharp edges, and JPG can't do transparency. Each re-save also loses a little more quality, so edit from the original, not a JPG copy.

PNG: sharp edges and transparency

PNG is lossless: every pixel is kept exactly. That makes it ideal for:

• screenshots and anything containing text,
• logos, icons and diagrams with flat colours,
• images that need transparency, such as a logo on a coloured website header or a signature placed on a document.

The trade-off is size. A photo saved as PNG can be many times larger than the same photo as JPG, with no visible benefit. If someone sends you a 6 MB PNG photo, converting it to JPG is usually the right move.

WebP: smaller files for the web

WebP was developed by Google for websites. It supports both lossy and lossless compression and transparency, and typically produces files noticeably smaller than equivalent JPGs or PNGs. All current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari display it.

Use WebP when you control the website: blog images, product photos, hero banners. Smaller images mean faster pages, which helps visitors on mobile data and is one of the factors in Google's page experience signals.

The catch: outside browsers, support is patchy. You may find that:

• a downloaded WebP image won't open in an older photo viewer or editor;
• a job portal, government form or print shop rejects .webp uploads;
• a messaging app or document editor doesn't preview it.

That's why "WebP to JPG" is one of the most common conversions people need.

How to convert between formats

1. Open the Image Converter.
2. Choose your image. It can read JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF and BMP (and HEIC in browsers that support it, such as Safari).
3. Pick the output: PNG, JPEG or WebP.
4. Convert and download. The conversion happens in your browser, so the image isn't uploaded.

Two things to know:

• Converting to JPG removes transparency. Transparent areas are filled with a solid colour, so keep PNG or WebP for logos.
• Converting doesn't add quality. Turning a small, blurry JPG into PNG makes the file bigger but not sharper.

Some browsers can't encode WebP; Safari has historically been one. If WebP isn't available, the converter falls back to another format and names the file to match what was actually created.

Choosing by situation

Don't forget size and dimensions

Format is only part of the story. A 4000-pixel-wide image is heavy in any format, and no format change will fix that on its own. For the web, resize images to roughly the largest size they're displayed at (often 1200–2000 pixels wide) with the Image Resizer, then compress with the Image Compressor. Format choice, dimensions and quality together decide the final file size.