Convert Image Format
Convert images between popular formats including PNG, JPG, WebP, BMP, GIF, and AVIF. Perfect for optimizing images for web use or compatibility.
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Which image format to use, and why
Each format makes a different trade. JPEG is lossy and excellent for photographs, but has no transparency and smears sharp text. PNG is lossless with full alpha transparency, ideal for logos, screenshots, and diagrams, and badly oversized for photos. GIF is limited to 256 colours and survives mainly for animation. WebP handles both lossy and lossless with transparency and is 25 to 35 per cent smaller than JPEG. AVIF compresses better still and is now supported everywhere current.
Converting means decoding the source into raw pixels and re-encoding in the target format. Two consequences follow. Converting a JPEG to PNG does not restore detail already discarded — it just stores the lossy result losslessly, usually in a bigger file. And converting a transparent PNG to JPEG must fill the transparency with a solid colour, because JPEG has no alpha channel at all.
Why we built this tool
Conversion is forced on you constantly: a site that only accepts JPEG, a printer that wants TIFF, a design tool that will not open WebP, or a performance audit telling you to serve modern formats.
The images are your work or your family photographs, and they carry metadata you may not have thought about. Ours decodes and re-encodes on a canvas in your browser, so the picture stays on your machine, there is no file-size limit, and nothing is retained. A useful side effect of local canvas conversion is that most metadata, including GPS coordinates, is not carried into the new file.
Tips and common mistakes
- Converting JPEG to PNG does not restore quality; it stores the lossy result losslessly in a larger file.
- PNG to JPEG loses transparency, which is filled with a solid colour — usually white or black.
- WebP is supported by every current browser and typically saves 25 to 35 per cent over JPEG.
- Always convert from the highest-quality source you have rather than from an already-compressed copy.
Quick start: using Convert Image Format
- Load the image you want to convert.
- Pick the output format for your destination — WebP for the web, PNG for transparency, JPEG for compatibility.
- Set the quality if you are converting to a lossy format.
- Run the conversion and compare the result with the original.
- Download the converted file.
For Apple photos specifically, HEIC to JPG is the direct route; Compress Image handles size afterwards.