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

PNG, JPG and WebP are the three formats you'll meet most often on the web, and picking the wrong one means either bloated files or soft, artefact-ridden images. Here's how they actually differ and how to choose with confidence.

The one-line summary

Use JPG for photographs, PNG for graphics that need sharp edges or transparency, and WebP when you want either of those at a smaller file size and you control where the image will be used.

Format	Compression	Transparency	Best for
JPG	Lossy	No	Photos, complex scenes
PNG	Lossless	Yes	Logos, screenshots, line art
WebP	Lossy or lossless	Yes	Web delivery, smaller files

JPG: small photos, at a cost

JPG (or JPEG) has been the default photo format for decades. It uses lossy compression, meaning it discards information the eye is least likely to notice to achieve small files. For photographs — smooth gradients, natural textures — this works beautifully. The downside appears with sharp edges and flat colour: text and hard lines pick up faint halos and blocky "artefacts," and every time you re-save a JPG it degrades a little more. JPG also has no transparency, so it can't sit cleanly over a coloured background.

PNG: pristine, but heavy

PNG is lossless: it preserves every pixel exactly. That makes it the right choice for screenshots, logos, icons, diagrams and anything with crisp edges or text. It also supports a full alpha channel, so transparent areas stay transparent. The trade-off is size — a photographic PNG can be several times larger than the equivalent JPG. Use PNG when fidelity and transparency matter more than bytes.

WebP: the modern all-rounder

WebP, developed by Google, can operate in either lossy or lossless mode and supports transparency in both. In practice it delivers roughly 25–35% smaller files than JPG at comparable quality, and smaller-than-PNG results for many graphics. Browser support is now effectively universal, which is why so much of the web has quietly switched to it.

The catch is outside the browser. Some older desktop apps, editors and social platforms still don't accept WebP, so if you're downloading an image to send to a client or drop into legacy software, a WebP file can be inconvenient. For anything staying on the web, WebP is usually the best default.

What about AVIF?

AVIF is a newer format that compresses even better than WebP, especially at low bitrates. Support has grown a lot, but encoding it in the browser is still limited, and app compatibility lags further behind. It's worth watching, but WebP remains the safer everyday choice today.

Quality settings matter more than the format

For the lossy formats, the quality slider often matters more than which format you picked. A JPG at 92% quality and a WebP at 92% quality are both visually near-perfect; drop either to 60% and you'll see the difference. When you convert, aim high — around 90% — unless you specifically need the smallest possible file.

How to convert between formats

Most image editors can export to any of these formats. If you just downloaded an image and want it in a different format, a browser-based converter is faster — it re-encodes the file locally without an upload. The key setting is quality for JPG and WebP; PNG has none because it's lossless. When you want zero loss, keep the original file untouched and only convert a copy.

A simple decision flow

• Needs transparency or sharp text? → PNG (or lossless WebP).
• It's a photo for the web? → WebP, or JPG for maximum compatibility.
• Sending to an app that might not support WebP? → JPG or PNG.
• Editing later and want no loss? → keep the original.

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There's no single "best" format — only the best fit for where the image is going. Match the format to the destination, keep quality high when you convert, and remember that no format change will rescue a low-resolution source.