WebP vs JPG vs PNG: which image format should you use?

Updated 26 September 2026

Tool for this guide: Convert image

Short answer: use JPG for photos you'll share or print, PNG for screenshots, logos and anything with transparency, and WebP for images on websites. WebP gives the smallest files that every current browser can show.

Real sizes for the same photo

We resized one landscape photo to 1600 × 900 pixels and saved it in each format using a browser's built-in encoder.

Format	Setting	File size	Compared with PNG
PNG	Lossless	2,472 KB	100%
JPG	Quality 80	168 KB	7%
WebP	Quality 80	112 KB	5%

At the same quality setting, the WebP was a third smaller than the JPG, and both were a tiny fraction of the PNG. Results vary from image to image, but photos almost always follow this order.

When to use each format

Format	Best for	Transparency	Animation	Opens everywhere
JPG	Photos, email, printing	No	No	Yes
PNG	Screenshots, logos, text, editing	Yes	No	Yes
WebP	Websites and apps	Yes	Yes	All current browsers; some older software can't
AVIF	Smallest web images	Yes	Yes	Current browsers; many apps and tools can't

What about AVIF?

AVIF usually makes even smaller files than WebP, but fewer tools can create it, including many browsers. Our converter offers AVIF only when your browser can save it. For most websites, WebP with a JPG fallback is the practical choice today.

How to convert

Open the image converter, or a specific tool such as WebP to JPG or JPG to WebP.
Add your images and choose the format.
Download the converted files.

Common mistakes

Saving photos as PNG. They become huge with no visible benefit.
Saving logos as JPG. Edges get fuzzy and transparency is lost.
Converting a JPG to PNG to "improve" it. The file gets bigger, but no detail comes back.

Try it now

Turn images into JPG, PNG, WebP or AVIF. Transparent areas get the background colour you pick when saving to JPG.

Open convert image