Three formats cover nearly every image a designer exports. Picking the wrong one either bloats a page or blurs a screenshot. Here is the short version, then the detail.
The short answer
- Photos on the web: WebP.
- UI screenshots, diagrams, anything with small text: PNG, or lossless WebP on the web.
- Logos and icons: SVG if you have the vector, PNG if not.
- Sending to someone or uploading to a strict form: JPG.
JPG
The universal photo format. Lossy compression that is very good on photographs and bad on sharp edges and text, which get fuzzy halos. No transparency. Opens everywhere.
PNG
Lossless. Every pixel stays exactly as it was, which is why screenshots, UI and text stay crisp. Supports transparency. Files are large for photos: a PNG photo can be five times the size of a JPG.
WebP
Does both. Lossy WebP is 25 to 35 percent smaller than JPG at the same quality; lossless WebP is usually smaller than PNG. Supports transparency and animation. Every current browser supports it, though some older apps and upload forms still do not.
AVIF and SVG
AVIF compresses better than WebP, but encodes slowly and is less supported outside browsers. Worth it for large sites serving huge image volumes. SVG is not a pixel format at all; it is vector, so logos and icons stay sharp at any size and are tiny.
A comparison
- JPG: photos to share anywhere. No transparency. Medium files.
- PNG: screenshots, UI and text. Transparency. Large files.
- WebP: almost everything on the web. Transparency. Small files.
- SVG: logos and icons. Transparency. Tiny files.
Converting and compressing
To switch formats, use the free Image Converter; it handles HEIC, PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF and SVG. To shrink files for the web, the Image Compressor resizes and compresses in one go. Both run in your browser.
For a full process, see how to compress images for a website.
Common questions
- Is WebP better than PNG?
- For photos and most web images, yes: much smaller at the same visual quality. For pixel-perfect graphics, lossless WebP and PNG are similar; PNG remains the safest choice for editing and compatibility.
- Should screenshots be PNG or JPG?
- PNG for UI screenshots with text and sharp edges, because JPG blurs small text. WebP lossless is a smaller alternative for the web.
- What about AVIF?
- AVIF is smaller still than WebP and supported in current browsers, but slower to encode and less supported in design tools and upload forms. WebP is the practical default.
