A quick guide to the most common image formats and when to use each one.
JPEG is the most common image format and has been around since 1992. It makes files smaller by throwing away image details that are hard for the human eye to notice. This works great for photos, but means the image quality gets slightly worse each time you re-save it.
A quality slider lets you choose the trade-off: higher quality keeps more detail but produces larger files, while lower quality gives you smaller files with more visible blurriness or blockiness.
JPEG does not support transparency—every pixel is solid. It is the go-to choice for sharing photos because it works everywhere: every browser, phone, computer, and social media platform can open a JPEG.
PNG keeps your image pixel-perfect—nothing is thrown away when the file is compressed. You can open and re-save a PNG as many times as you like without any loss in quality.
The trade-off is file size: a photo saved as PNG will be much larger than the same photo saved as JPEG. On the other hand, PNG is very efficient for images with large flat areas of color, like screenshots or diagrams.
PNG supports transparency, so parts of the image can be see-through. This makes it the standard choice for logos, icons, and any image you want to place on top of other content without a white box around it.
WebP is a newer format created by Google in 2010. It can do what both JPEG and PNG do—lossy compression for photos and lossless compression for graphics—and generally produces smaller files than either one.
It also supports transparency and even simple animations (like GIFs). All modern web browsers can display WebP images, which is why many websites use it to make pages load faster.
The catch is that not all software outside the browser supports WebP well. Some image editors, email clients, and social media platforms may not accept it, which is why you might need to convert WebP files to JPEG or PNG before sharing them.
HEIC is the format iPhones and iPads use to save photos by default (since iOS 11 in 2017). It produces noticeably smaller files than JPEG while keeping the same visual quality, so your phone can store more photos without running out of space.
A single HEIC file can also hold multiple images—for example, a burst of shots or a Live Photo with its short video clip. It supports transparency and can store richer color information than JPEG, including HDR.
The biggest downside is compatibility. HEIC works well on Apple devices, and recent versions of Windows and Android can open it too. But most websites, many image editors, and older software cannot handle HEIC files. This is the most common reason people convert HEIC to JPEG or PNG.
| Format | Quality loss? | Transparency | File size | Works everywhere? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG | Yes (lossy) | No | Small | Yes |
| PNG | No (lossless) | Yes | Large | Yes |
| WebP | Your choice | Yes | Smallest | Browsers yes, other apps vary |
| HEIC | Your choice | Yes | Very small | Apple yes, others vary |