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home/comparisons/jpg-vs-pngupdated 19 Jul 2026

.jpgLossy · no transparencySmall files for photographs. Discards detail you can't easily see.

.pngLossless · full alphaEvery pixel kept. For logos, screenshots and sharp edges.

JPG for photographs, PNG for graphics with transparency or text.

trophyWinner: depends on use case

~/head-to-head

Five rounds

JPG 2tie 1PNG 2

check_circleMuch smaller for photos due to lossy compression.

01File sizeJPG wins

Lossless and larger, but necessary for graphics with transparency.check_circle

check_circleLoses quality each time it is saved.

02QualityPNG wins

Lossless: no quality loss on save.check_circle

check_circleNo transparency at all.

03TransparencyPNG wins

Full alpha-channel transparency.check_circle

check_circlePhotographs and complex images with millions of colours.

04Best fortie

Logos, icons, screenshots and images with sharp edges.check_circle

check_circleLoads faster for photos: better for page speed.

05Web useJPG wins

Larger, but necessary when transparency is needed.check_circle

~/what-are-you-saving

Tell us what the image is.

photo_cameraPhotographstarLogoscreenshot_monitorScreenshotlayers_clearNeeds transparencydrawLine art / diagrampublicPhoto for a websiteeditMaster you’ll re-editprintPrinting a photo

use.jpgContinuous tone compresses efficiently, and the discarded detail isn’t readily perceived.

~/measured-in-your-browser

Don’t take the rounds on trust: encode both

Your browser’s own encoders save the same pixels as PNG and as JPG at five qualities, then decode them again. The page reports the real byte counts and PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio, where 40 dB and above is usually indistinguishable). Pictures with transparency are compared over white, since JPG cannot store alpha.

photo_cameraPhotographstarLogo, transparentscreenshot_monitorScreenshotshow_chartLine chartuploadYour image

filebytessize vs PNGPSNR

PNG304.1 KB1.00×exact

JPG q9561.8 KB0.20×41.7 dB

JPG q8527.4 KB0.09×35.8 dB

JPG q7516.7 KB0.05×34.8 dB

JPG q6010.8 KB0.04×34.1 dB

JPG q406.3 KB0.02×33.3 dB

JPG wins on size here: quality 95 stays above 40 dB at 20% of the PNG. Click a row to inspect that quality.

re-saving 10 times · JPG at the selected quality1 px shift each save: off

Saving the same pixels again at the same quality mostly re-creates the same blocks: PSNR after save 1 is 35.8 dB, after save 10 35.8 dB. Edits, crops or a different quality between saves are what make JPG losses pile up. PNG stays exact every time.

PNG (identical to source)304.1 KB · lossless

JPG quality 8527.4 KB · 35.8 dB

JPG error × 8brighter = further from the source

Source480 × 320 px

all four test imagesPNGsmallest JPG ≥ 40 dBsmaller filealpha

Photograph304.1 KB61.8 KB (q95)JPG, 20%none

Logo on transparent11.8 KBnone reaches 40 dBPNGlost in JPG

Screenshot with text20.0 KB19.3 KB (q95)JPG, 97%none

Line chart14.5 KBnone reaches 40 dBPNGnone

Technical foundations

.jpgA lossy, block-based format. The encoder splits the image into 8×8 blocks, applies a discrete cosine transform, then quantises the coefficients: discarding high-frequency detail human vision is least sensitive to. The rest is entropy-coded.^[1]

.pngA lossless format that stores every pixel exactly. It applies per-row prediction filters, then DEFLATE (LZ77 + Huffman), so the original is reconstructed bit-for-bit.^[3,4]

Colour and transparency

.jpgEncodes in YCbCr and commonly subsamples colour (typically 4:2:0), because the eye is more sensitive to brightness. No alpha channel, so no transparency.^[2]

.png8 or 16 bits per channel with a full alpha channel for per-pixel transparency. An indexed mode with up to 256 colours keeps simple graphics small.^[3]

Compression behaviour

.jpg

.png

Because JPG discards data, it produces much smaller files for continuous-tone images like photographs. PNG produces smaller files for flat colour, sharp edges and text, where its prediction filters find strong redundancy and JPG’s block transform introduces visible artifacts.

straightenFor a typical photograph, a lossless PNG is several times larger than a visually comparable JPG.

Artifacts and generation loss

.jpgBlocking along the 8×8 grid and ringing around high-contrast edges, both worse at lower quality. Every decode-edit-save reapplies the loss, so quality degrades cumulatively.^[1]

.pngNo artifacts and no generation loss: repeated saving leaves the image unchanged.

Standardisation and support

.jpgStandardised as ITU-T T.81 and ISO/IEC 10918-1, with JFIF defining the file convention.^[1]

.pngDefined by the W3C and published as ISO/IEC 15948; created in the mid-1990s partly as a patent-free replacement for GIF.^[3,4]

check_circleBoth are supported by every major browser, operating system and image editor.

Typical applications

.jpg

.png

JPG dominates photographs and natural images, including camera output and most photos on the web. PNG is used where transparency, sharp edges or exact reproduction matter: logos, icons, screenshots, line art, and images composited over varied backgrounds. Many workflows keep a lossless master and export a JPG copy for distribution.

Convert between them

.png→.jpgFor photos saved as PNG by mistake. Usually several times smaller.Convert now →.jpg→.pngWhen a tool requires PNG. It can't recover quality already lost to JPG compression.Convert now →

References[1]JPEG standard (ISO/IEC 10918)JPEG Committee [2]JPEG File Interchange Format FamilyLibrary of Congress [3]PNG Specification (Third Edition)W3C [4]RFC 2083: PNG Specification Version 1.0IETF

More comparisons

All comparisons →

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Frequently Asked Questions

When should I use JPG vs PNG?

Use JPG for photographs and complex images. Use PNG for logos, screenshots, icons, or anything needing transparency.

Does PNG support transparency?

Yes, PNG fully supports alpha channel transparency. JPG does not support transparency at all.

Which is better for web use?

JPG is better for photos (smaller files). PNG is necessary for transparent graphics. WebP is ideal for both.

Can I convert JPG to PNG without quality loss?

No, converting JPG to PNG cannot recover quality already lost during JPG compression.

Is PNG or JPG better for printing?

PNG is generally better for printing graphics and logos. For photographs, either works well at high resolution.