JPG vs PNG vs WebP: Which Format Should You Use?
Three formats cover practically every image on the web. The right choice depends on one question: what is the image, and where is it going?
JPG — the universal photograph
JPEG has been the default photo format since the 1990s, and every browser, portal, printer, and government system on Earth accepts it. It compresses photographs brilliantly — smooth gradients, skin, skies — by approximating detail your eye doesn’t miss. Its quality dial is also what makes exact file-size targeting possible: tools like the KB compressor tune quality until the file fits a stated limit.
Weaknesses: no transparency, and hard edges (text, line art) develop faint halos at strong compression. Use JPG for: photos going anywhere, and any upload form — when in doubt, JPG.
PNG — the lossless specialist
PNG stores pixels exactly, with full transparency support. Screenshots, logos, diagrams, and text renders stay perfectly crisp. The cost: photographs as PNG are enormous — often 5–10× the JPG size — and PNG has no quality dial, which means a PNG cannot be compressed to an exact KB target. (That’s why size-targeting tools convert PNG input to JPG or WebP, and why a form demanding “PNG under 50KB” for a photo is asking for something painful.)
Use PNG for: screenshots, logos, graphics with text, anything needing transparency — when exact pixels matter more than file size.
WebP — the modern compromise
WebP, from 2010, does both jobs: lossy compression ~25–30% smaller than equivalent-quality JPG, plus lossless and transparency modes. Every modern browser supports it, and it’s the right choice for images on your own website — same look, faster pages.
Two caveats: older upload portals may reject it (they were built expecting .jpg/.png), and Safari can’t create WebP in-browser even though it displays it fine — which is why KBWise tools fall back to JPG with a notice on Safari.
The decision in one table
- Photo → upload form / portal: JPG. Always accepted, size-targetable.
- Photo → your own website: WebP. Smaller, faster, universally rendered.
- Screenshot / logo / text: PNG. Crisp edges, exact pixels.
- Needs transparency + small size: WebP (lossy with alpha).
- Must hit an exact KB limit: JPG or WebP — never PNG (no quality dial).
Converting between them is trivial — the compressor takes all three as input and outputs JPG or WebP at whatever size you need.