JPG vs PNG vs WebP vs AVIF: The Complete Format Guide
Four formats cover almost every image on the modern web. Choosing correctly is the single biggest lever on file size — a photo in the wrong format can be many times larger than it needs to be. Here's the complete comparison.
The one-line answer
- Photograph → AVIF (smallest) or WebP (universal), JPG as the safe fallback.
- Graphic, logo, screenshot, UI → PNG or lossless WebP.
- Needs transparency → WebP or AVIF (small) or PNG (compatible). Never JPG.
JPG — the photographic classic
Lossy, no transparency, universally supported, and still excellent for continuous-tone photographs. It damages sharp edges and text (fuzzy halos), so it's the wrong choice for graphics. Quality 80 is the sweet spot.
PNG — lossless and transparent
Stores every pixel exactly and supports full transparency. Perfect for logos, icons, screenshots and diagrams; wasteful for photographs (often 5–10× larger than JPG). Palette quantization shrinks graphic PNGs while keeping them lossless-looking — see compressing PNG without losing transparency.
WebP — the modern all-rounder
Does both jobs: lossy (beats JPG ~25–30%) and lossless (beats PNG ~25%), with transparency and animation. Supported in every current browser since 2020. The safe modern default.
AVIF — the compression champion
Built on the AV1 codec, AVIF typically produces files 20–30% smaller than WebP at equal quality and stays clean at very low bitrates. It supports HDR, wide gamut and high bit depth. Trade-offs: slower to encode, and unsupported in very old browsers. See WebP vs AVIF for the deep dive.
Side by side
| Feature | JPG | PNG | WebP | AVIF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compression type | Lossy | Lossless | Both | Both |
| Transparency | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Photos | Graphics | Everything | Everything |
| Relative photo size | 100% | 500%+ | ~75% | ~55% |
| Browser support | Universal | Universal | Universal (2020+) | Modern (2024+) |
| Encode speed | Fast | Fast | Fast | Slower |
What to actually do
For a website that wants the smallest files with zero risk: serve AVIF with a WebP and
JPG fallback via the <picture> element. For everything else — sharing,
uploads, quick optimization — WebP is the pragmatic pick, and JPG/PNG remain fine
where compatibility is paramount.
Convert between them free
The FreeCompressor image tool converts between PNG, JPG and WebP in your browser while compressing — drop a file, pick the format, compare, download.