PNG vs JPG vs WebP – Which Image Format Should You Use?

By the ZypCRM editorial team · Updated 20 October 2026 · 4 min read

Choosing an image format seems like a detail, but it has a big effect on file size, quality and whether the picture works where you need it. A photo saved as PNG can be ten times larger than necessary; a logo saved as JPG gets fuzzy halos; a WebP may be rejected by an old upload form. This guide explains what each format is good at.

The two kinds of compression

Lossless compression shrinks the file without changing a single pixel. When you open it, you get back exactly what you saved. PNG is lossless.

Lossy compression throws away detail that the eye is unlikely to notice – fine texture, subtle colour variation – to make files much smaller. JPG is lossy. The quality setting controls how much is thrown away.

WebP and AVIF can do both.

Lossy compression is ideal for photos, which are full of random detail nobody notices. It works badly for sharp edges and flat colours, such as text, icons and logos, where the lost detail shows up as smudges and “ringing” around edges.

JPG (JPEG)

The universal photo format, supported by literally everything.

• Best for: photographs, complex images with lots of colours and gradients.
• Strengths: small files for photos, universal compatibility.
• Weaknesses: no transparency; edges of text and logos get blurry halos; quality degrades every time you edit and re-save.

Quality settings: 80–90 is a good balance for most uses; above 92 the files grow quickly for little visible benefit; below 70 blockiness becomes visible.

Avoid repeated saving. Each time a JPG is opened, edited and saved again, it loses a little more detail. Keep an original and export a JPG copy at the end.

PNG

The standard lossless format, with full transparency support.

• Best for: logos, icons, screenshots, diagrams, text, images that need a transparent background, and anything you’ll edit again.
• Strengths: pixel-perfect quality; transparency with smooth (alpha) edges; good compression for flat colours.
• Weaknesses: very large for photographs.

A screenshot of a document is often smaller as PNG than JPG and looks much sharper. A photo is often five to ten times larger as PNG than as a good JPG, with no visible improvement.

WebP

A modern format from Google that does both lossy and lossless compression, plus transparency.

• Best for: images on websites, where smaller files mean faster pages.
• Strengths: lossy WebP is typically 25–35% smaller than a JPG of similar quality; lossless WebP is usually smaller than PNG; supports transparency in both modes.
• Compatibility: supported by all current major browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari since version 14 in 2020) and modern operating systems. Some older software, email clients, print shops and upload forms still don’t accept it.

If you download a WebP image and need to use it elsewhere, convert it to JPG or PNG with the Image Converter.

AVIF

A newer format based on the AV1 video codec.

• Strengths: often smaller again than WebP at the same quality, especially at low file sizes; supports transparency and HDR.
• Weaknesses: slower to encode; support in browsers is now broad, but support in other software and upload forms is still patchy.

AVIF is an excellent choice for websites that serve fallbacks; it is not yet a safe choice for sending files to other people.

HEIC

The default format of iPhone photos. Efficient, but poorly supported outside Apple devices. Convert to JPG for sharing with the HEIC to JPG tool.

SVG: not a picture of pixels

SVG is different from all the formats above: it stores shapes (lines, curves and fills) rather than pixels, so it can be scaled to any size without getting blurry. It is the right format for logos, icons and cut files, but cannot represent photographs. If you have a logo as PNG and need it to scale, convert it with Image to SVG.

Quick recommendations

Size is not just about format

Format is only half of the story. A photo from a modern phone is 4,000 pixels or more wide. If it will be shown at 1,200 pixels on a website or in an email, the extra pixels are wasted. Resize first, then compress.

• Use Resize Image to set the width in pixels.
• Use Compress Image to choose a quality level or a target file size (for example “under 200 KB”), optionally converting to WebP for even smaller files.

Resizing a 4,000-pixel photo to 1,600 pixels removes around 84% of the pixels, which usually shrinks the file far more than any quality setting.

Converting between formats: what to expect

• PNG → JPG: much smaller for photos. Transparent areas become a solid colour (choose white or another background), because JPG can’t store transparency.
• JPG → PNG: the file gets larger and quality does not improve; the JPG artefacts are preserved perfectly. Only do it if a program needs PNG.
• JPG → WebP: smaller, with a small extra loss of quality (it’s lossy-to-lossy). Use quality 80 or higher.
• WebP → JPG/PNG: for compatibility with older software.

Summary

• JPG for photos everywhere.
• PNG for logos, screenshots, text and transparency.
• WebP for websites, where it gives smaller files with the same look.
• AVIF for advanced web use with fallbacks.
• SVG for logos and anything that must scale.
• Resize before you compress; don’t convert JPG to PNG expecting better quality.