JPG, PNG or WebP: which to upload

Start with what the form accepts

Before anything else, look at the file types the form lists. If it names only one type, use that type, whatever this guide says about the others. A file in a type the form doesn’t list may be refused even when it is small enough.

JPG and JPEG are the same format with two spellings. MDN’s image format guide lists .jpg and .jpeg (among others) as file endings for the one JPEG type.

Renaming a file doesn’t change its type. A PNG renamed to photo.jpg is still a PNG inside. Make My File Fit reads the file itself, not its name, to work out what it is.

JPG: the usual choice for photos

JPEG uses lossy compression: it throws away some detail to make the file smaller. The JPEG committee describes its core as a lossy image format, with many options for encoding photographic images.

• Good for: photos and other pictures with smooth changes of colour.
• Watch out for: screenshots and pictures of text. MDN suggests lossless formats for these, because blurring is very visible.
• Transparency: none. MDN notes that JPEG does not support an alpha channel, the part of an image that stores see-through areas.

A JPG has a quality setting, so it can get smaller without changing its width and height. Make My File Fit lowers the quality first, down to about 65%, before it makes the picture smaller in pixels.

PNG: exact pixels and transparency

PNG is lossless. The W3C PNG specification describes it as a format for lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images, with an optional alpha channel for transparency.

• Good for: screenshots, diagrams, logos and line art, where blurred edges would show. MDN recommends lossless formats for these.
• Transparency: yes. A PNG can have a see-through background.
• Watch out for: size. Because PNG keeps every pixel exactly, there is no quality to lower. To shrink a PNG and keep it a PNG, Make My File Fit makes it smaller in pixels.

If a form accepts JPG and your PNG is a photo with no transparent areas, converting it to JPG gives the tool a quality setting to lower as well as the pixel size.

WebP: smaller, if the form takes it

WebP can be lossy or lossless, and it can keep transparency. Google’s WebP documentation reports that, in its own comparisons, lossy WebP files were smaller than comparable JPEG files and lossless WebP files were smaller than PNGs.

• Good for: getting a small file that keeps a transparent background.
• Watch out for: forms that don’t list it. Only upload a WebP if the form names WebP.

Not every browser can save WebP files. Make My File Fit checks first, and only offers WebP where your browser can really make one. If it can’t, and your WebP needs a new copy, the tool asks you to choose JPG or PNG instead.

How Make My File Fit handles file types

The Image tool opens still JPG, PNG and WebP images. It can’t open HEIC photos, GIFs or animated images.

A JPG can hold more than one picture. For example, Android 14 added support for capturing photos in Ultra HDR, and Android’s Ultra HDR format stores a second picture, called a gain map, inside the JPG using the Multi-Picture Format. The tool opens these JPGs using the main picture, and leaves the hidden brightness picture out of your copy.

• Your copy stays the same type as your original unless you choose another one in More options.
• If you choose JPG for an image with a transparent background, the transparent areas become white. The tool says so on the choice, and only does it when you pick JPG.
• If a PNG or WebP can’t reach your limit, the tool may suggest converting it. It never converts without asking.

For iPhone photos in HEIC format, see how to get a JPG from your iPhone first.

Note: Whatever you choose, open the downloaded copy and check that it looks right before you upload it.