JPEG vs PNG vs WebP vs HEIC vs AVIF
Which image format should you actually use? This guide compares every major format by file size, quality, browser support, and the specific use cases where each excels or fails.
The short answer
📸 For photos
Use WebP for web. Use JPEG for email and universal compatibility.
🎨 For graphics & logos
Use SVG for anything vector. Use PNG for raster graphics needing transparency.
📱 For iPhone photos
HEIC saves storage on-device. Convert to JPEG before sharing.
Full Format Comparison Table
| Format | Compression | Transparency | Animation | Typical size | Browser support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG / JPG | Lossy | ✗ No | ✗ No | 100–500 KB | ✓ Universal |
| PNG | Lossless | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | 200 KB – 5 MB | ✓ Universal |
| WebP | Both (lossy & lossless) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | 70–350 KB | ✓ All modern browsers (95%+) |
| HEIC / HEIF | Lossy | ✗ No | ✗ No | 1–4 MB | ⚠️ Safari only (partial Chrome/Edge support) |
| AVIF | Both | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | 50–250 KB | ✓ Chrome, Firefox, Edge. ⚠️ Safari 16+ |
| GIF | Lossless (256 colors) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | 500 KB – 10 MB | ✓ Universal |
| SVG | Vector (infinite scale) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | 1–100 KB | ✓ Universal in browsers |
| TIFF | Lossless | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | 5–50 MB | ✗ No browser support |
| BMP | Uncompressed | ✗ No | ✗ No | 5–50 MB | ✓ Supported (but rarely used) |
Format Deep Dives
JPEG / JPG, The Universal Standard
JPEG has been the dominant photo format since the 1990s. It uses lossy compression that discards fine color detail invisible to the human eye, achieving dramatic file size reductions. A 12 MP camera photo that's 12 MB as a raw file becomes 3–5 MB as JPEG, and under 500 KB at 80% quality, still looking identical to the human eye at normal viewing sizes.
✓ When to use JPEG
- • Photographs (portraits, landscapes, products)
- • Email attachments requiring universal compatibility
- • Social media uploads
- • Any image viewed at screen size (not printed)
✗ When to avoid JPEG
- • Screenshots with text (compression artifacts)
- • Images needing transparency
- • Logos or line art (blocky artifacts)
- • Images you'll edit repeatedly (quality degrades each save)
PNG, The Transparent Standard
PNG uses lossless compression, every pixel is stored exactly as it is. This means no compression artifacts, but larger file sizes compared to JPEG. PNG is the only widely supported raster format with alpha channel (transparency), making it essential for logos, overlaid graphics, and any image that needs to be placed on different backgrounds.
✓ When to use PNG
- • Logos and brand assets requiring transparency
- • Screenshots (text stays crisp)
- • Graphics with flat colors and sharp edges
- • Images that will be edited multiple times
✗ When to avoid PNG
- • Photographs (5–10× larger than JPEG for same quality)
- • Email newsletters (slow loading)
- • When file size matters more than lossless quality
WebP, The Modern Web Standard
Developed by Google and now supported by all major browsers, WebP achieves the best of both JPEG and PNG. In lossy mode it's 25–35% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality. In lossless mode it's 26% smaller than PNG. It supports transparency and animation. For websites built today, WebP is the right default for almost every image.
✓ When to use WebP
- • All website images (photos and graphics)
- • Replacing JPEG and PNG in Next.js/React apps
- • Animated content (better than GIF)
- • Any context where download speed matters
✗ When to avoid WebP
- • Email (limited email client support)
- • When you need TIFF-quality for print
- • Legacy systems or software that doesn't read WebP
HEIC / HEIF, The iPhone Default
Apple's HEIC format (a container for HEIF-encoded images) has been the default iPhone photo format since iOS 11. It produces photos roughly half the size of JPEG at the same perceptual quality, which is why Apple adopted it, doubling effective iPhone storage for photos. The tradeoff is compatibility: Windows needs the HEIF codec, Android support is limited, and most web upload forms reject HEIC.
✓ When HEIC is fine
- • Staying in the Apple ecosystem (iPhone ↔ Mac ↔ iPad)
- • Archiving photos on-device
- • AirDropping to other Apple devices
✗ When to convert first
- • Sending to Android users or Windows users
- • Uploading to websites or web forms
- • Email attachments to non-Apple recipients
- • Editing in non-Apple software
AVIF, The Next Generation
AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is the newest major image format, derived from the AV1 video codec. It achieves even better compression than WebP, typically 40–50% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality. It supports transparency, animation, and HDR content. The catch is that encoding is slower and support is more limited than WebP (Safari only added full support in version 16.0).
✓ When to use AVIF
- • Cutting-edge web performance optimization
- • Large-scale image CDNs (like Cloudinary, Fastly)
- • When you can serve AVIF with JPEG fallback
✗ When to avoid AVIF
- • When broad compatibility is needed without fallback
- • Slow encoding pipelines (AVIF encoding is CPU-intensive)
- • When WebP already meets your compression needs
Which format to use for each use case
| Use case | Best format | Fallback |
|---|---|---|
| Website photos | WebP | JPEG |
| Website logos & icons | SVG | PNG |
| Email attachments (photos) | JPEG | JPEG |
| Email newsletter inline images | JPEG | PNG |
| Social media photos | JPEG | PNG |
| Print production | TIFF | PNG |
| iPhone photos (storage) | HEIC | JPEG |
| E-commerce product photos | JPEG (white bg) | PNG (transparent) |
| Screenshots | PNG | WebP |
| Animated content | WebP | GIF |
File size comparison (same photo, same quality)
Approximate file sizes for a typical 12 MP photograph at equivalent perceived quality:
Frequently asked questions
Should I use JPEG or PNG for web images?+
What is HEIC and why do iPhones use it?+
Is WebP better than JPEG?+
Should I convert my PNG to WebP?+
Does converting JPEG to PNG improve quality?+
What's the difference between HEIC and HEIF?+
Want real compression numbers?
Our benchmark study tested JPEG at every quality setting (100% → 50%), compared WebP vs AVIF vs PNG, and measured real PDF reduction across 10 document types.
View Compression Benchmark Study →