There are dozens of image formats, and four of them cover almost every real job.

JPG — photographs going anywhere

Small, universal, lossy. Right for photos sent by email or message, uploaded to a shop, or printed. Wrong for screenshots, logos and anything with sharp text, where the compression leaves smudges. Keep quality at 85–92%.

PNG — screenshots, logos, transparency

Lossless and supports transparent backgrounds. Files are bigger than JPG for photos, but perfect for anything with flat colour, text or a cut-out background.

WebP — the web, when you control the site

About 30% smaller than JPG at the same quality, supports transparency, and every current browser opens it. Wrong for sending to people: many desktop apps still cannot open a WebP, which is why “WebP to PNG” is one of the most common conversions there is.

AVIF — smallest of all, least compatible

Roughly half the size of JPG. Browsers display it, but most other software does not yet. Use it for websites you build; convert it to JPG or PNG for anything else.

A quick rule

• Photo to a person → JPG
• Screenshot, logo or transparent image → PNG
• Image on a website you run → WebP (or AVIF)
• Anything you received that will not open → PNG