JPG vs PNG vs WebP: which format should you use?
6 min read · Comparison
The short answer
- Photographs → JPG or WebP
- Screenshots, text, graphics with sharp edges → PNG
- Transparency needed → PNG or WebP
- Smaller file at same quality → WebP
- Maximum compatibility → JPG
If you only remember one rule: JPG for photographs, PNG for graphics, WebP when you control the destination.
JPG
JPG has been the standard photographic format since the early 1990s. It is lossy, meaning it discards information to achieve small file sizes. At quality 80-90, most people cannot tell a JPG from the original photo.
The strengths of JPG are universal support and excellent compression for photographic content. Every browser, every email client, every operating system and every web form accepts JPG without question.
The weaknesses are the absence of transparency and the way artefacts compound. Every time you re-save a JPG, quality is lost. Repeated editing produces visible blocky artefacts.
PNG
PNG is lossless. Every pixel is stored exactly. It also supports full transparency and a wide colour space. Screenshots, logos, icons and UI elements look sharp as PNG because there is no compression artefact around text and edges.
The price is file size. PNG files are typically 5-10x larger than the equivalent JPG for photographic content. For graphics with flat colours and limited palettes, PNG can be quite efficient, but for anything photographic it is wasteful.
WebP
WebP is a modern format developed by Google. It is designed to be smaller than JPG at the same visual quality, and smaller than PNG while still supporting transparency. In practice, WebP files are 25-35% smaller than JPG and 60-80% smaller than PNG.
WebP is supported by all modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave, Opera). The limitation is that some older forms, desktop software and legacy systems still require JPG or PNG. For those contexts, WebP will be rejected.
How to choose
If you are uploading to a form: check what it accepts. Most forms accept JPG. Some accept PNG. Very few accept WebP. When in doubt, use JPG.
If you are publishing on your own website: use WebP for photographs, PNG for graphics with transparency, and JPG as a fallback for maximum compatibility.
If you are sending by email: use JPG. All email clients display it, and the file size is manageable.
If you are saving for future editing: use PNG or a raw format. JPG loses quality each time it is re-saved.
What about file size targets?
Regardless of format, the target file size matters. A 5MB JPG is too large for most web use, no matter how efficient the format. Reducing to 100-500KB usually has no visible impact on quality at typical display sizes.
FITLY lets you choose both format and target size, so you can convert and compress in one step.
Try it now
Convert and compress between JPG, PNG and WebP using the FITLY tool.