JPG vs PNG vs WebP: which should you use?

The best image format depends on what the image contains and where you plan to use it. Here are practical starting points.

JPG / JPEG

JPG is widely supported and is commonly used for photographs. It uses lossy compression, so saving repeatedly at low quality can introduce visible artifacts. JPG does not support transparency.

PNG

PNG uses lossless compression and supports transparency, which makes it useful for interface graphics, screenshots, and logos. Photographic PNGs can be much larger than comparable JPG or WebP files.

WebP

WebP supports lossy and lossless compression and transparency. It can produce smaller files for many web use cases, but check that your target software and workflow support it.

Quick rule of thumb

• Photographs: start with JPG or WebP.
• Graphics that need transparency: consider PNG or WebP.
• Website images: compare the visual quality and file size of WebP with your existing format.

Always preview the output and keep the original. Compression results vary by image content, encoder, and quality settings.