For sharing photos, JPEG is the safest choice because every device and app opens it; WebP is the better choice for photos on a website because it produces smaller files at similar quality; and PNG is the right choice for screenshots, text, logos and images with transparency, but not for ordinary photos. In the JPEG vs PNG vs WebP decision, privacy is not a deciding factor: all three can carry EXIF, XMP and a color profile, so you need to remove metadata whichever format you pick.
Below is a side-by-side comparison, then recommendations for specific situations.
The short answer: which format for which job
| What you are sharing | Best format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Camera or phone photo, to a person | JPEG | Opens everywhere, small enough to send |
| Photo on your own website | WebP (JPEG fallback rarely needed today) | Smaller files, faster pages |
| Screenshot with text or interface | PNG | Lossless: text stays sharp |
| Logo, icon, diagram | PNG (or SVG if it is vector) | Flat colors and sharp edges compress well losslessly |
| Image with transparent background | PNG, or WebP on the web | JPEG has no transparency |
| Photo for printing | JPEG at high quality | Universally accepted by print services |
| Master copy you will edit again | The original file, untouched | Every lossy save loses detail |
How each format compresses images
JPEG
JPEG splits the image into 8×8 pixel blocks, converts each block into frequency components and discards the fine detail your eye is least sensitive to. It usually also stores color at lower resolution than brightness (chroma subsampling). The result is excellent for photographs and poor for sharp edges: text and line art get "ringing" artifacts around them. Every time a JPEG is decoded and saved again, a little more detail is lost.
PNG
PNG is lossless. It predicts each pixel from its neighbors and compresses the differences with DEFLATE, the same algorithm as ZIP files. That is very efficient on flat colors and repeated patterns, which is why screenshots are small and sharp. A photograph is full of fine, random variation, so a PNG photo is typically several times larger than a good JPEG without looking better.
WebP
WebP has two separate modes. Lossy WebP is based on VP8 video compression: it predicts blocks from nearby pixels and encodes the difference, which handles photos efficiently. Lossless WebP is a different codec designed to beat PNG. Google's WebP documentation states that lossless WebP images are 26% smaller than PNGs and lossy WebP images are 25–34% smaller than comparable JPEGs at equivalent SSIM quality. Your own results depend on the image and encoder settings.
One detail matters for some images: lossy WebP always stores color at half resolution in each direction (4:2:0). Most photos are unaffected, but thin red text or saturated fine patterns can look softer than in a JPEG saved at full color resolution.
Transparency, animation and color depth
| Feature | JPEG | PNG | WebP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy | Lossless | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparency | No | Yes (full alpha) | Yes, in both modes |
| Animation | No | Via APNG | Yes |
| Bits per channel | 8 (in common use) | Up to 16 | 8 |
| Best at | Photos | Graphics, screenshots | Both, especially on the web |
Transparency is the deciding factor more often than people expect. If you convert a PNG or WebP with a transparent background to JPEG, the transparent areas must be filled with a solid color, usually white or black depending on the software. A logo that looked clean on a dark page will suddenly sit in a white box.
Compatibility: where each format opens
JPEG and PNG open in essentially every browser, operating system, email client, messaging app, word processor and print service. You never have to think about them.
WebP is supported by all current major browsers. Safari was last to arrive, adding WebP in version 14 with iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur in 2020. Current Android and iOS versions display WebP in their photo apps. The gaps are elsewhere: older desktop software, some online upload forms that only list JPEG and PNG, some print services and older email clients. If you send a WebP to someone and they cannot open it, the problem is almost always the app, not the file.
HEIC, the default iPhone format, is a separate case: it is efficient but much less widely supported outside Apple devices. Our guide to HEIC photos and metadata covers how to get JPEG copies.
Metadata support in JPEG, PNG and WebP
This is where many people assume a difference that does not exist. All three formats can store location and device information. Only the storage location changes.
| Metadata | JPEG | PNG | WebP |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXIF (GPS, dates, camera, serial numbers) | APP1 segment | eXIf chunk | EXIF chunk |
| XMP (creator, rights, edit history) | APP1 segment | iTXt chunk with keyword XML:com.adobe.xmp | XMP chunk |
| IPTC (captions, credits) | APP13 segment | No standard chunk; usually in XMP | No standard chunk; usually in XMP |
| Free-text comments | COM segment | tEXt, zTXt, iTXt | Not defined |
| Color profile | APP2 segments | iCCP chunk | ICCP chunk |
| Embedded thumbnail | Common, inside EXIF | Rare | Possible, inside EXIF |
In practice, the risk depends more on where the file came from than on its format. A JPEG straight from a phone or camera usually has the richest metadata. PNG screenshots often have little or none, but PNGs from some editors and image generators store text chunks with software details or generation settings, as explained in our guide to PNG metadata. WebP files depend on the converter that made them; see WebP metadata for how to check.
Converting between formats is not a reliable way to clean a file. Many converters deliberately copy EXIF and XMP into the new file. Remove metadata as its own step, and check the result.
What happens to your file after you share it
The format you choose often matters less than what the destination does with it:
- Social networks and many messaging apps usually re-encode uploaded photos into their own format and size, and their public copies typically have metadata removed. The platform may still read the original at upload. Behavior changes over time, and some modes, such as sending a photo as a document in WhatsApp, deliver the original file instead.
- Email attachments are delivered byte-for-byte, metadata included, unless your mail app resizes them. See email attachments and photo metadata.
- Cloud links and file transfers generally share the original file.
So when the destination keeps your file as-is, you control both the format and the metadata. When it re-encodes, your format choice mostly affects the quality of what you upload, not what the viewer receives.
Recommendations by situation
Sending photos to friends and family
Use JPEG. It opens on any device, including older computers and smart TVs. Remove the location and device information first, because private messages are easily forwarded.
Selling on a marketplace
Use JPEG unless the site lists WebP as accepted. Photos of items are usually taken at home, so strip GPS before uploading, even if the platform says it removes metadata.
Publishing on your own website
Use WebP for photos, and PNG or lossless WebP for graphics that need sharp edges or transparency. Strip metadata before upload: it adds weight and can expose where and with what device images were made.
Screenshots
Keep them as PNG. Converting a screenshot to JPEG blurs text and adds artifacts around interface edges. If a screenshot is unusually large because it contains a photo, lossless or high-quality WebP is a good alternative where it is accepted.
Printing
Send a high-quality JPEG unless the print service asks for something else. Keep the color profile embedded so the printer knows how to interpret the colors.
Converting without losing quality or leaking metadata
A few rules keep conversions from doing damage:
- Do not convert just to clean. Removing metadata from a JPEG, PNG or WebP can be done without touching the pixels. Re-encoding a lossy image always costs some quality; removing metadata without losing quality explains the difference.
- Do not convert JPEG to PNG to "save quality". PNG cannot restore detail the JPEG already discarded.
- Convert once, from the best source. If you need a WebP, make it from the original, not from a JPEG that was already recompressed.
- Watch transparency. Going to JPEG fills transparent areas with a solid color.
- Keep the color profile when the image is not sRGB, or colors will shift.
Our free metadata remover handles both cases. By default it keeps the same format and removes metadata losslessly, keeping only the color profile and orientation flag. If you choose to convert to JPEG, PNG or WebP, it re-encodes at the quality you select, applies the rotation to the pixels and, when converting to JPEG, replaces transparency with white.
The bottom line
- Photos to people: JPEG. Photos on your site: WebP. Screenshots, graphics and transparency: PNG.
- No format is private by default. JPEG, PNG and WebP can all carry GPS and device data.
- Clean metadata as a separate step, without re-encoding, then verify it.
- Keep originals untouched in your own archive and share cleaned copies.