JPG, PNG or WebP? The right image format for every job

Updated: 2026-07-03 · 4 min read

Three formats cover almost every everyday case: JPG, PNG and WebP. Knowing their strengths saves storage, speeds up uploads and avoids blurry or needlessly huge images.

The short version

Photos → JPG. Graphics, screenshots and anything with transparency → PNG. Images for your own website → WebP. Remember just that sentence and you’ll be right 90% of the time.

JPG: the standard for photos

JPG uses lossy compression: it discards detail the eye barely notices, making photos dramatically smaller. For images with soft gradients - faces, landscapes, product shots - that’s ideal.

The weaknesses: no transparency, and hard edges (text, logos) can show artifacts under strong compression. For those, PNG is the better pick.

PNG: lossless and transparent

PNG stores every pixel exactly and supports transparency. Perfect for logos, icons, screenshots and graphics with text - everything stays razor sharp.

The price: photos saved as PNG quickly become several times larger than necessary. Sending a holiday photo as PNG is almost always a waste.

WebP: the web format

WebP combines the best of both worlds: noticeably smaller files than JPG at similar quality, plus transparency like PNG. Every modern browser displays WebP - for your own website it’s the first choice today.

The one catch: some older programs and platforms don’t accept WebP uploads. A quick conversion back to JPG or PNG solves that.

Everyday decision guide

Application photo or image by mail: JPG. Logo with transparent background: PNG. Images for your blog or shop: WebP. Screenshot with text: PNG. Shrinking a huge photo collection: JPG or WebP with compression.

With the BiGimg tools you convert any format in seconds - right in your browser, no upload.