PNG vs JPEG vs WebP: Which Format Should You Use?
PNG, JPEG, or WebP? Compare lossy vs lossless, transparency, file sizes. Learn when to use each format for photos, logos, screenshots, and web graphics.
Three Formats, Three Purposes
PNG, JPEG, and WebP are the three image formats that matter for the web in 2026. Each has a clear purpose, and picking the wrong one costs you in file size, quality, or both.
JPEG: The Photo Workhorse
JPEG is a lossy format built for photographs and complex images with smooth gradients. It achieves small file sizes by discarding detail the human eye is unlikely to notice. Compression strength is adjustable. Quality 85-90 is the sweet spot for web photos.
Here is what happens at different quality levels. At quality 92, a 4 MB DSLR photo compresses to roughly 800 KB. At quality 85, the same photo drops to about 350 KB with no visible difference at screen resolution. At quality 60, artifacts appear: blocky patches in skies, halos around edges, and muddy colors. Below 50 the image looks bad at any size.
JPEG does not support transparency. Every JPEG has an opaque background. If you need a transparent logo, a product shot that floats over a colored page section, or an icon, JPEG is the wrong format.
JPEG is best for photographs, hero images, blog post feature images, and any image where small quality loss is acceptable and no transparency is needed. If your site has a 1200x800 hero photo, JPEG at quality 85 will be around 120-180 KB. The same photo as PNG would be 600-900 KB. That is a 5x difference for no visible quality gain on screen.
PNG: Pixel-Perfect and Transparent
PNG is lossless. Every pixel is preserved exactly. It supports full alpha transparency, meaning pixels can be partially transparent, not just fully opaque or fully clear.
The file size difference between PNG and JPEG for photographs is dramatic. A 1200x800 photo at JPEG quality 90 might be 200 KB. As a PNG, it could be 800 KB to 1.2 MB. The tradeoff is perfect quality for more bytes. For photographs on the web, this tradeoff rarely makes sense.
PNG also supports two color modes:
- PNG-8: 256 colors, 1-bit transparency. File sizes are small. Good for simple graphics, icons, and logos with flat colors. A 200x200 icon as PNG-8 might be 4-8 KB.
- PNG-24: Millions of colors, full alpha channel. Larger files. Required for screenshots, gradients, and complex graphics. A 1200x800 screenshot as PNG-24 is typically 200-500 KB.
PNG is best for logos, icons, screenshots, UI elements, images with text, images with sharp edges, and anything that needs transparency. It is also the source format you should keep in your project. You can always convert from PNG to another format, but converting JPEG to PNG does not recover lost quality.
WebP: The Modern Default
WebP is Google's format that supports both lossy and lossless compression, transparency, and animation (like GIF but better). It produces files roughly 25-35% smaller than equivalent JPEG or PNG images at the same visual quality.
Real numbers help. A 200 KB JPEG photo at quality 85 converts to a roughly 130 KB lossy WebP at quality 85, with identical visual quality. A 500 KB PNG-24 screenshot converts to about 370 KB as lossless WebP. A 300 KB PNG-24 logo with transparency converts to about 220 KB as lossless WebP. These savings add up across a page with 10-20 images.
WebP is supported by every modern browser: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. As of 2026, global browser support is above 97%. You can serve WebP for production without a fallback for nearly all audiences.
WebP is best for everything on the web. If browser support allows, WebP should be your default production format for photos, product images, and transparent graphics.
Side-by-Side File Size Comparison
Here is a practical example. A 2400x1600 photo exported from Lightroom:
| Format | Quality | File Size |
|---|---|---|
| JPEG | 100 | 1,450 KB |
| JPEG | 85 | 380 KB |
| PNG-24 | lossless | 2,800 KB |
| WebP (lossy) | 85 | 260 KB |
| WebP (lossless) | lossless | 2,100 KB |
The WebP lossy version is 82% smaller than the JPEG at quality 100 and 32% smaller than JPEG at 85. The lossless WebP is 25% smaller than the PNG-24.
Comparison Table
| JPEG | PNG | WebP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy | Lossless | Lossy + Lossless |
| Transparency | No | Yes (full alpha) | Yes |
| Animation | No | No (APNG exists) | Yes |
| Photo file size | Small | Large | 25-35% smaller than JPEG |
| Logo/icon file size | N/A (no transparency) | Moderate | 25-35% smaller than PNG |
| Browser support | Universal | Universal | 97%+ |
When to Use Each
- Product photos, hero images: Serve WebP to browsers. Keep a JPEG or PNG source.
- Logos, icons, UI elements: SVG if the graphic is vector. PNG-24 if raster. Serve WebP versions for performance.
- Screenshots: PNG-24. The text in screenshots develops artifacts under JPEG compression. Lossless is worth the bytes.
- Transparent images: PNG or WebP. Never JPEG.
- Source files: Always keep a lossless master (PNG-24 or lossless WebP). Lossy-to-lossy conversions compound artifacts.
Converting Between Formats
Use the Image Converter to convert between PNG, JPEG, and WebP. For bulk conversions, the PNG to WebP Converter and WebP/JPG to PNG Converter handle specific direction conversions.
Lossless-to-lossy conversions (PNG to JPEG, PNG to lossy WebP) are irreversible. Always keep a PNG or lossless WebP source file before converting to a lossy format.
Try it yourself: open the Image Converter. Take a screenshot (PNG), upload it, and convert to JPEG at quality 85. Compare the file sizes. Then convert the same PNG to lossy WebP at quality 85. The WebP version will be the smallest of the three while preserving transparency if your image has it.