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JPG vs PNG vs WebP vs AVIF: Which Image Format Should You Use?

By Antuparthi Manoha Malik PaulPublished 3 October 20266 min read

A practical comparison of image formats — compression, transparency, quality and compatibility — with clear recommendations for common tasks.

Choosing the wrong image format makes files needlessly large or visibly blurry. The right choice depends on what's in the image and where it's going.

The short answer

UseBest format
Photos for email, forms and documentsJPG
Screenshots, logos, diagrams, textPNG (or lossless WebP)
Anything on a websiteWebP (or AVIF)
Logos and icons that must scaleSVG

JPG

JPG uses lossy compression designed for photographs: it throws away fine detail the eye is unlikely to notice. Photos compress very well, and every device and app can open JPGs. The downsides: no transparency, visible artefacts around sharp edges and text, and a little quality loss every time a JPG is edited and re-saved.

PNG

PNG is lossless — the decoded image is exactly what was saved — and supports full transparency. That makes it ideal for screenshots, interface graphics and anything with text or hard edges. For photos, though, PNG files are usually several times larger than a good-quality JPG.

WebP

WebP, developed by Google, supports both lossy and lossless compression plus transparency. Google's published comparisons found lossy WebP files 25–34% smaller than JPGs of similar quality, and lossless WebP about a quarter smaller than PNG. All modern browsers support it, which makes it the default choice for websites. Some older desktop software and upload forms still don't.

AVIF

AVIF, based on the AV1 video codec, compresses even better than WebP, especially at lower quality settings. It's supported by current browsers, but encoding is slower and support in other software is still patchy.

SVG

SVG isn't a grid of pixels at all; it describes shapes mathematically, so it stays sharp at any size and is usually tiny. It's ideal for logos and icons, but not for photos.

Common mistakes

  • Saving photos as PNG — huge files with no visible benefit.
  • Saving screenshots as low-quality JPG — blurry text and smudges around edges.
  • Converting JPG to PNG to “improve quality” — it preserves the current quality but can't restore what was lost.
  • Uploading full-resolution camera photos — a 12-megapixel photo is far bigger than any screen needs. Resize first.

Convert and optimise