JPEG, PNG and WebP all do fundamentally different things well, and defaulting to whichever one you're used to often means leaving real quality or file size on the table.
JPEG: best for photos, not for everything
JPEG uses lossy compression tuned for photographic images with smooth color gradients and natural detail, achieving small file sizes at generally acceptable visual quality for photos specifically. It performs noticeably worse on flat-color graphics, text, or images with hard edges, where compression artifacts become visually obvious.
PNG: best for graphics, transparency and text
PNG uses lossless compression, meaning no image data is discarded — ideal for logos, screenshots, diagrams, and anything with sharp edges or text where JPEG artifacts would be visible. It also supports true transparency, which JPEG doesn't. The trade-off is meaningfully larger file sizes for photographic content compared to JPEG.
WebP: often the best of both, where it's supported
WebP supports both lossy and lossless compression modes in one format, generally achieving smaller file sizes than equivalent-quality JPEG or PNG files, and it supports transparency like PNG does. Browser support is now very broad across all major modern browsers, though it's still worth checking compatibility if your specific audience includes significantly older devices or software.
A simple decision guide
Photo, no transparency needed → JPEG or WebP. Logo, icon, screenshot, or anything needing transparency → PNG or WebP. Web performance is a priority and your audience supports it → WebP generally wins on file size across both use cases.
Convert between formats as needed
An image format converter lets you switch between JPEG, PNG and WebP for the same image, so you can pick based on the actual use case rather than whatever format the image happened to arrive in.
The bottom line
There's no single "best" image format — the right choice depends on whether you're compressing a photo or a graphic, and whether you need transparency.
Try it yourself
Put this into practice with our image format converter.