WebP vs JPG vs PNG: a practical comparison
Three formats cover almost every real use. They differ in exactly three ways that matter — how they compress, whether they support transparency, and where they are accepted — and once you know those, the choice is obvious every time.
JPG, PNG or WebP. Everything is processed on your device.
Up to 50 MB per file. Files are processed in your browser.
Full options and FAQs on the Image Converter page.
The differences that matter
- JPG: lossy, no transparency, universally accepted. Excellent for photographs, poor for sharp edges and flat colour.
- PNG: lossless, supports transparency, universally accepted. Perfect for logos, screenshots and diagrams; large for photographs.
- WebP: does both lossy and lossless, supports transparency, and is typically 25-35% smaller than the equivalent JPG or PNG. Every current browser supports it; some older desktop software and upload forms do not.
Choosing in practice
For a website you control, use WebP and keep a JPG fallback only if you must support genuinely ancient clients. The bandwidth saving is real and directly improves loading metrics.
For anything you send to another person or system — an application form, a print shop, a colleague on unknown software — use JPG for photographs and PNG for graphics. Compatibility beats efficiency when you cannot control the other end.
Common mistakes
Saving photographs as PNG is the most frequent one. It produces files several times larger with no visible benefit, because photographs have no sharp edges for lossless compression to protect.
The opposite mistake is saving a screenshot as a low-quality JPG, which surrounds every letter with grey artefacts. Screenshots are flat colour and hard edges: exactly what PNG was designed for.
Step by step
- 1Decide whether the image is a photograph or a graphic with flat colour and sharp edges.
- 2Check whether you need transparency — if so, rule out JPG.
- 3Ask whether you control where the image will be opened.
- 4Controlled environment: choose WebP. Unknown environment: JPG for photos, PNG for graphics.
- 5Use the converter below to switch formats without re-editing the image.
Frequently asked questions
- Is WebP always smaller?
- Usually, but not always. For very small graphics or images with few colours, an optimised PNG can win. Convert and compare when size really matters.
- Does converting PNG to WebP lose quality?
- Not if you use lossless WebP. Lossy WebP discards detail like JPG does, though it typically holds up better at the same file size.
- What about AVIF?
- AVIF compresses even better and browser support is now broad, but tooling and older software lag behind. WebP remains the safer default for most sites today.