The 30-second version
| Your image is… | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A photo for the web | WebP (or AVIF) | Smallest at equal quality |
| A photo for maximum compatibility | JPG | Opens everywhere since 1992 |
| A screenshot, logo or UI graphic | PNG (or lossless WebP) | Sharp text, transparency, lossless |
| An iPhone photo (.heic) | Convert to JPG/WebP | HEIC support outside Apple is spotty |
| Animation | WebP > GIF | 30–70% smaller than GIF, full color |
| Print / archival | PNG or max-quality JPG | No lossy artifacts |
Format by format
JPG — the universal donor
Invented in 1992, supported by literally everything. Lossy, no transparency, 8-bit color. Every camera defaults to it. Use it when the receiver's software is unknown — old enterprise tools, embedded devices, that one colleague's Windows XP machine.
PNG — lossless and transparent
Every pixel preserved, alpha channel included. Perfect for screenshots (text stays razor sharp), logos, and any image with flat color areas. Weak for photos: sensor noise defeats PNG's compression model and files grow 3–10× vs JPG.
WebP — the modern default
Google's format from 2010, now supported by ~97% of browsers in use. Lossy mode beats JPG by 25–35% at equal quality; lossless mode beats PNG by ~25%; and it does animation better than GIF. If you build websites in 2026, this is your daily driver — the PNG to WebP and JPG to WebP converters make switching trivial.
AVIF — smallest, newest
Based on the AV1 video codec. Beats even WebP by another 20%+ and supports 10/12-bit color and HDR. Encoding is slower and very old browsers can't decode it. Use for modern, performance-critical sites with a WebP fallback.
HEIC/HEIF — the Apple island
Excellent compression, but the ecosystem is fragmented: iPhones shoot it, many Windows builds and web platforms can't read it. Convert to JPG or WebP before sharing — the HEIC to JPG tool does it locally so your originals never leave the phone/laptop.
GIF — nostalgia with overhead
256 colors, 1-bit transparency, comically inefficient compression. It survives because of universal support and easy embedding. For new animations, prefer WebP or APNG — same compatibility in 2026, fraction of the size.
Transparency support at a glance
- Full alpha: PNG, WebP, AVIF, GIF (1-bit only)
- No alpha: JPG, BMP — flatten onto a background color first
When converting transparent images to JPG, the Bulk Image Converter lets you pick the background color used for flattening.
Converting without quality loss stacking
Converting PNG → WebP (lossless mode keeps quality), or JPG → PNG is safe. But JPG → WebP → AVIF chains lossy encoders repeatedly. Rule of thumb: always convert from your highest-quality source, one hop, in one pass.