Convert Image Format

Use JPG for photographs, complex images, and anything that needs to be small and shareable. JPG's lossy compression produces the smallest file sizes for photos — typically 5–15× smaller than PNG for the same image. Use PNG for logos, icons, illustrations, screenshots, and any image with text. PNG's lossless compression preserves every pixel exactly, and it supports transparency — essential for images that need to sit on different coloured backgrounds. The one rule: never save a photograph as PNG for web use (the file will be enormous), and never save a logo or icon as JPG (the lossy compression creates visible artefacts on sharp edges).

For website use in 2026, yes — WebP is the better choice in almost every situation. Lossy WebP images are typically 25–35% smaller than equivalent JPG files at the same visual quality, which directly improves page load speeds and Core Web Vitals scores. WebP also supports transparency (which JPG does not) and lossless compression. Browser support is 96%+ globally in 2026 — covering Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera. The main reason to keep JPG: compatibility with tools, apps, and services that don't yet accept WebP — email clients, some older printing services, and legacy desktop software.

AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is the newest major image format for the web, offering better compression than both JPG and WebP. AVIF images are typically 50% smaller than JPG and 20–30% smaller than WebP at equivalent visual quality. It also supports HDR, wide colour gamut (10/12-bit colour depth), and transparency. Browser support is approximately 93% globally in 2026 (Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16+, Edge 121+). Best practice: serve AVIF to modern browsers using an HTML picture element with WebP and JPG fallbacks. For non-photographic images like logos, AVIF can sometimes produce larger files than WebP lossless — always test before deploying.

In 2026, the best strategy is to serve AVIF first with WebP and JPG as fallbacks using the picture element. For photographs and hero images: AVIF (50% smaller than JPG). For logos and icons: SVG (infinitely scalable, tiny file size) or WebP lossless if SVG isn't available. For UI screenshots and images with text: WebP or PNG. For animated content: WebP for small animations; MP4/WebM video for anything longer than a few seconds. If you use a CDN (Cloudflare, Imgix, Cloudinary, Fastly), enable automatic format negotiation — the CDN will serve AVIF or WebP automatically based on browser support without any code changes.

JPG is the safest choice for images in emails. Most email clients — including Outlook on Windows, Apple Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail — display JPG reliably. WebP is blocked by Outlook on Windows (a large percentage of business email), so sending WebP images in email means Outlook users see a broken image. PNG works in email but produces large file sizes that slow loading on mobile connections. AVIF and HEIC have very limited email client support — avoid both for email.

JPG at high quality (95–100) or PNG are both accepted by most professional print services (Vistaprint, Shutterfly, print labs). PNG is preferred when the image contains text, sharp lines, or transparency. JPG is acceptable for photographs at 300 DPI or higher resolution. HEIC, WebP, and AVIF are rejected by most print services — convert to JPG or PNG before ordering prints. For professional print workflows using InDesign or Illustrator, TIFF is the gold standard — it supports layers, multiple colour profiles, and very high bit depths.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is the best format for logos and icons. SVG is vector-based, meaning it scales to any size with zero quality loss — a logo looks sharp at 16×16 pixels and at 1600×1600 pixels from the same file. SVG files are also tiny (often under 10KB for a complex logo). If your logo must be a raster image (not vector), use PNG with transparency — never JPG, which creates compression artefacts on sharp edges and text, and never WebP lossy at low quality settings, which produces similar artefacts.

PNG is the best choice when you need to preserve maximum quality for editing — it is lossless, meaning every pixel is stored exactly without compression artefacts. Opening and re-saving a PNG in Photoshop or Lightroom produces zero quality degradation. JPG degrades slightly every time it is opened and re-saved (generational loss), so it is a poor choice as an editing master format. For RAW photography workflows, keep the original RAW files and export to TIFF for editing intermediates. WebP lossless is also an option for editing masters but has less support in professional editing software than PNG.

HEIC, WebP, and AVIF are modern formats that older operating systems and applications do not support natively. HEIC: Windows requires the HEIF Image Extension and HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store to open HEIC files. WebP: Windows 10 and 11 can open WebP in the Photos app and most browsers, but older versions of Photoshop and some legacy apps cannot. AVIF: Windows 11 can open AVIF in some builds; older systems and most desktop apps require conversion. The fastest fix for all three: convert to JPG or PNG using the tools above. The files will then open in every app, on every device, without any extensions or codec installations.