Picking the wrong image format can double your file size with zero visible benefit. Here is the short version: photo → WebP or JPG, graphic with transparency → PNG, logo → SVG. The longer version is below.
The quick decision tree
- Photograph? WebP at quality 80. Fall back to JPG at quality 82 for very old browsers (almost none in 2026).
- Screenshot, UI element, or graphic with sharp edges and few colors? PNG, or WebP lossless.
- Logo, icon, or anything that needs to scale? SVG. Not pixels, just math.
- Animated? WebP (animated) or APNG. GIF is obsolete in 2026 because it is bigger and lower quality than both.
- Need transparency? PNG or WebP. JPG does not support transparency.
JPG, the workhorse
JPG is lossy. Every save throws away some data. At quality 75–85 the loss is invisible on screens and the file shrinks dramatically. JPG is the right choice when you have a photograph, no transparency, and you want maximum compatibility. Where JPG fails: anything with sharp edges (text, UI screenshots) gets fuzzy ringing artifacts, and you cannot have a transparent background.
PNG, lossless but heavy
PNG is lossless and supports transparency. That makes it perfect for graphics, logos used as bitmaps, and screenshots. The catch: a photograph saved as PNG is often 5–10x larger than the same photo as WebP or JPG. Use PNG when you actually need the lossless or transparency property, not as a default.
WebP, the modern default
WebP supports both lossy and lossless modes, transparency, and animation. WebP at quality 80 typically beats JPG at quality 85 on both file size and visual quality. Every major browser has supported it for years. If you control the format, WebP is the right answer for almost any photo or graphic that is not a logo.
AVIF, even better where supported
AVIF compresses about 20–30% better than WebP at the same quality and supports HDR. Browser support is now near-universal in 2026 but encoders are slower, so it is best for content you encode once and serve forever (hero images, blog images, product photos).
SVG, vector not raster
SVG is not a pixel format, it is math. That means it stays sharp at any size, from a 16×16 favicon to a billboard. Use SVG for logos, icons, charts, and any illustration that was drawn rather than photographed. Use the SVG Optimizer to strip the bloat that drawing tools leave behind.
A practical workflow
- Take the original image (RAW, PNG, or untouched JPG).
- Open the Universal Image Converter and convert to WebP at quality 80.
- If you need even smaller files, switch to AVIF at quality 60.
- Need a precise file size for an upload limit? Use Compress to Specific KB to hit an exact target.
That covers 95% of real situations. If you want to dig deeper into compression specifically, read How to Compress Images Without Losing Visible Quality.