JPG and PNG in one minute
JPG (or JPEG, after the Joint Photographic Experts Group that published it in 1992) is a lossy format. It saves space by discarding detail the eye barely notices, which makes it ideal for photos but means every save loses a little more.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics, a W3C standard since 1996) is lossless. It stores every pixel exactly, supports transparency and is the usual choice for logos, icons, screenshots and anything you will keep editing.
Converting JPG to PNG copies the pixels of your photo into a PNG file. Nothing is lost in the conversion, but nothing is gained either: the blur and blockiness that JPEG compression added are now stored perfectly.
When converting to PNG makes sense
- You will edit the image several times. Each JPG save recompresses the picture; PNG saves do not. Convert once, edit as often as you like.
- A website, app or printer asks for PNG. Some upload forms, design tools and sticker or icon makers only accept PNG.
- Text and diagrams saved as JPG. PNG will not remove existing artefacts, but it stops new ones appearing as you annotate.
If you only want to share or store a photo, keep it as JPG. It will be much smaller.
Does converting JPG to PNG make the background transparent?
No. This is the most common surprise. A JPG has no way to store transparency, so every pixel in it is a solid colour, including the white or grey “background” around a logo or product. When you convert, those pixels are copied exactly. The PNG can hold transparency, but nothing in the conversion decides which pixels should be see-through, so the background stays solid.
To get a transparent background you need a tool that finds the subject and erases everything else. The background remover does that in your browser. It accepts your JPG directly and saves the cut-out as a PNG, so you do not need to convert first.
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| The same picture, as a PNG file | This JPG to PNG converter |
| A cut-out with a see-through background | Background remover (saves a PNG) |
| A smaller file to share | Keep the JPG, or compress it |
Quality myths: what PNG can and cannot do
Myth: PNG is higher quality, so converting improves the photo. PNG only stops further losses. The detail JPG threw away when the photo was first saved is gone, and no format can rebuild it. Put the JPG and the PNG side by side at 100% zoom and they look identical, because they contain the same pixels.
Myth: a bigger file means a better picture. The PNG is usually several times larger, but the extra bytes store the same pixels in a less compact way. Size tells you about the format, not the quality.
Myth: converting back and forth is harmless. JPG to PNG is lossless. PNG back to JPG is a new lossy save, so you lose a little detail again. If you must end up with a JPG, make all your edits on the PNG and save to JPG once at the end.
Myth: PNG makes a small image sharp enough to print large. Resolution is the number of pixels, and converting does not add any. A 640 × 480 photo is still 640 × 480 after conversion.
What happens to file size
We converted two 1920 × 1200 landscape photos:
| Photo | JPG | PNG (smaller option) | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hills and sky | 420 KB | 1.6 MB | 3.9× |
| Forest lake | 582 KB | 1.9 MB | 3.4× |
The Smaller PNG files option uses OxiPNG, which tries several ways of packing the pixels and keeps the smallest. It is still lossless, just slower: allow a few seconds per photo. Without it, the browser’s own PNG encoder is used, which is quicker but usually produces somewhat larger files. For screenshots and graphics with large flat areas, PNG files stay small either way.
If a form has an upload limit, check the PNG size before you send it. At 3–5 times the size, a 3 MB phone photo can become a PNG of around 9 to 15 MB.
How the converter works
Each file is read on your device and decoded by your browser, which also applies the rotation flag that phones store in photos, so the PNG is the right way up. The pixels are then saved as PNG. Hidden EXIF data, including GPS location, is not copied into the PNG.
Files are processed in parallel using several background threads, so a folder of 200 photos converts without freezing the page. Names stay the same apart from the extension: IMG_2041.jpg becomes IMG_2041.png. If you drop a file that is not really a JPG (a WebP saved with a .jpg name is common when you save images from websites), the tool detects the real format, converts it anyway and tells you.
How to convert JPG to PNG in Windows Paint
Windows has a converter built in:
- Right-click the JPG and choose Open with > Paint.
- Choose File > Save as > PNG picture.
- Pick a folder and a name, then click Save.
Paint saves one picture at a time and keeps the same pixels, so the result is the same as here: identical look, bigger file, no transparency.
How to convert JPG to PNG on a Mac with Preview
- Open the JPG in Preview.
- Choose File > Export.
- Open the Format menu and pick PNG.
- Choose where to save, then click Save.
To convert several images in Preview, open them together, select them all in the sidebar and use File > Export Selected Images; the format choice is under Options.
On iPhone and Android there is no built-in option; use this page in Safari or Chrome. Pick photos from your library, and the PNGs are saved to Files or Downloads. For many files on any device, drop them all here and download a single ZIP.
Choosing the right format
PNG is the right choice for screenshots, logos, line art and images you will keep editing. For photos you want to share or put on a website, JPG and the newer WebP and AVIF formats give much smaller files. Our comparison of AVIF vs WebP vs JPG explains which to choose for sharing and for websites, with a worked example.
Going the other way
Need small files again? PNG to JPG converts back, and Compress Image shrinks PNGs losslessly or suggests WebP for photos. To send several images as one document, use JPG to PDF.