For photos that must open everywhere, use JPEG. For screenshots, logos and anything that needs exact pixels or transparency, use PNG. On the web, WebP gives smaller files than both with near-universal support, and AVIF usually compresses photos smaller still, at the cost of slower encoding and a few older clients that cannot open it.
At a glance
| Property | JPEG | PNG | WebP | AVIF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy | Lossless | Lossy or lossless | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparency (alpha) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Animation | No | APNG extension | Yes | Yes |
| Bit depth per channel | 8 (baseline) | 1 to 16 | 8 | 8, 10 or 12 |
| Wide gamut (ICC profile) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HDR | Only via gain-map extensions | Signalling added in the 2025 spec | No | Yes, native |
| Progressive loading | Yes (progressive JPEG) | Interlaced (Adam7) | No | Limited |
| Maximum dimensions | 65,535 × 65,535 | 2^31 − 1 per side | 16,383 × 16,383 | Large images are stored as tiles |
| File size for photos | Baseline | Very large | Smaller than JPEG | Usually smallest |
| Encoding speed | Fast | Fast to moderate | Moderate | Slow |
| Metadata | EXIF, XMP, ICC | eXIf, XMP, ICC | EXIF, XMP, ICC | EXIF, XMP, ICC |
| Support | Universal | Universal | All current browsers and most apps | Current browsers; patchier in apps |
Exact savings depend on the image and the quality setting, so compare real files: run the same photo through the Image Compressor at a few settings and look at both the size and the result at 100% zoom.
JPEG
JPEG (1992) splits the image into 8 × 8 blocks, discards fine detail the eye is least sensitive to, and usually stores colour at lower resolution than brightness. At sensible quality settings that is invisible in photographs; on sharp edges and text it produces ringing and blocky artefacts. Every re-save loses a little more.
Choose JPEG when the image is a photograph and it must open in every program, email client, printer kiosk and old device, or when you are sharing originals from a camera.
PNG
PNG stores pixels losslessly with DEFLATE compression after a per-row prediction filter. Flat colours and repeated patterns compress very well; photographic noise does not, so a PNG photo is often several times larger than a good JPEG.
Choose PNG when you need exact pixels or full transparency: screenshots, diagrams, logos and icons, pixel art, or an intermediate file you will edit again. Convert the other way with the JPG to PNG Converter only when you need a lossless working copy.
WebP
WebP (Google, 2010) has a lossy mode based on VP8 video intra-frames and a separate lossless mode, both with optional alpha and animation. Lossy WebP always stores colour at half resolution (4:2:0), which can blur fine red or blue detail. The 16,383-pixel limit per side rules it out for very large panoramas.
Choose WebP when you serve images on the web and want one modern format that every current browser displays: photos in place of JPEG, and graphics with transparency in place of PNG. Convert with the JPG to WebP Converter or PNG to WebP Converter; turn it back into something older software accepts with the WebP to PNG Converter.
AVIF
AVIF stores AV1 video key frames in a HEIF container. It supports 10- and 12-bit colour, HDR, full-resolution chroma and alpha, and on photographs it usually beats WebP and JPEG on size at the same visual quality, especially at low bitrates. Encoding is much slower, and very fine textures can come out smoothed.
Choose AVIF when bandwidth matters most (large hero images, image-heavy pages) and you can provide a fallback. Many editors, operating-system viewers and upload forms still reject it; the AVIF to JPG Converter fixes that for a single file.
Which should you choose?
- Photo to email, print or upload anywhere: JPEG.
- Screenshot, logo, diagram or anything with text: PNG (or lossless WebP on the web).
- Photos on a website: AVIF with a WebP or JPEG fallback in a
<picture>element; or WebP alone if you want a single format. - Transparent graphics on a website: WebP or AVIF, with PNG as the fallback.
- Image you will keep editing: a lossless format (PNG or the editor's own), exporting to a lossy one only at the end.
- Need to flatten for compatibility: the PNG to JPG Converter fills transparency with a background colour.
For how lossy and lossless compression work inside these formats, see How Image Formats and Compression Work.