PNG and JPG are the two most common image formats on the web, and picking the wrong one means either a blurry logo or a needlessly huge photo. The good news: the rule of thumb is simple.
Short answer: Use JPG for photographs. Use PNG for anything with sharp edges, text, or transparency — logos, icons, screenshots, diagrams.
How they actually differ
| PNG | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless (nothing discarded) | Lossy (discards some detail) |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Best for | Logos, text, screenshots, UI | Photographs |
| Typical size | Larger | Much smaller |
| Re-saving | Safe, no quality loss | Degrades a little each save |
JPG uses lossy compression: it throws away detail your eye is unlikely to notice, which makes photo files dramatically smaller. The downside is that sharp edges — like text or a logo outline — get fuzzy “artifacts,” and every re-save loses a little more.
PNG is lossless: it reproduces every pixel exactly and supports transparency (alpha). That makes it perfect for graphics with crisp edges, but photographic images stay large because nothing is discarded.
When to use JPG
- Photographs and realistic images
- Anything where small file size matters more than pixel-perfection
- Email attachments and social uploads
Converting a bulky PNG photo to JPG is the single easiest way to shrink it — often by 80% or more. Use the PNG to JPG converter and it happens in your browser, no upload.
When to use PNG
- Logos, icons, and illustrations with flat colors
- Screenshots and images containing text
- Anything that needs a transparent background
Need transparency back, or a lossless working copy? Convert with the JPG to PNG tool — just remember it can’t undo JPG’s earlier compression.
What about WebP?
If your images are for the web, WebP often beats both: it supports transparency like PNG and compresses like JPG, usually at smaller sizes. Most modern browsers support it. Try PNG to WebP when page speed is the priority.
A quick workflow
- Start from the highest-quality original you have.
- Photo for the web? → PNG to JPG (or WebP).
- Logo or screenshot? → keep it PNG.
- Too large? → shrink the dimensions with the Image Resizer before exporting.
Get the format right and you avoid both problems at once: crisp graphics and fast-loading photos.