JPG, PNG, WebP or AVIF? How to Pick the Right Image Format
By Junaid Aslam. 3 min read. Updated .
Save a screenshot as JPG and the text looks fuzzy. Save a photo as PNG and the file is huge. Upload a WebP to some old app and it refuses it. Each format has a job it does well and a job it does badly.
Lossy vs lossless, in plain words
Lossy formats throw away some detail to make the file smaller, and they pick details your eyes are least likely to miss. Lossless formats keep every pixel exactly as it was. Lossless files are bigger. Lossy files are smaller but can show blocky artifacts if you push the compression too hard.
The formats side by side
| Format | Compression | Transparency | Animation | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPG | Lossy | No | No | Photos, when you need it to open anywhere |
| PNG | Lossless | Yes | No (APNG aside) | Screenshots, logos, text, sharp edges |
| GIF | Lossless, 256 colors | 1-bit only | Yes | Short simple loops (but see below) |
| WebP | Both | Yes | Yes | Web images of nearly any kind |
| AVIF | Both | Yes | Yes | Web photos where file size matters most |
| HEIC | Lossy | Yes | Yes (sequences) | iPhone storage, not sharing |
JPG: the one everything understands
JPG has no transparency and it doesn't handle sharp lines and flat colors well. It's excellent for photographs, though, and every device on Earth can open one. If you're emailing a picture to someone and you don't know what they're using, JPG is the safe answer.
One habit to drop: opening a JPG, editing it, and saving it again, over and over. Each save recompresses the image and quality slowly drops. Keep an original and export from that.
PNG: sharp edges and transparency
PNG keeps every pixel, so text in a screenshot stays crisp and a logo with a transparent background sits cleanly on any color. The price is size. A photo saved as PNG can be five to ten times bigger than the same photo as a JPG, so don't use it for pictures of people, places, or food.
WebP: usually the practical web choice
Google released WebP in 2010. It can do lossy or lossless, transparency, and animation, all in one format. Google's own WebP compression study puts the average lossy WebP file at 25-34% smaller than JPEG at an equivalent SSIM quality score. Every current major browser supports it. The weak spot is older desktop software and some email clients that never added support.
AVIF: smallest files, newer support
AVIF is built on the AV1 video codec and often beats WebP on size for photos. It also supports transparency and higher color depth. Current versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge can display it. It's slower to encode than the others, and older tools may not open it, so it fits websites better than files you send to people.
GIF: limited, still common
GIF is limited to 256 colors per frame, so photos look grainy, and animated GIFs get big fast. For anything longer than a couple of seconds, a short MP4 or WebM video is smaller and looks better. Animated WebP is another option if you need an image tag.
A simple decision guide
- A photo to share with anyone: JPG.
- A photo for your own website: WebP, or AVIF if you can serve a fallback.
- A screenshot with text or UI: PNG (or lossless WebP).
- A logo or icon with a transparent background: PNG or WebP. For simple shapes, SVG is better still.
- A form upload that says 'JPG or PNG only': give it exactly that.
- An iPhone photo that won't open: see our HEIC to JPG guide.
Resizing matters more than the format
A 6000-pixel-wide phone photo shown in a 800-pixel slot wastes most of its bytes. Before you compare JPG and WebP, scale the image close to the size it'll be displayed. That step often saves more than switching formats. After that, convert and compress with the Image Converter, and compare the file sizes before you decide.