Which image format should I save a photo in?
JPEG, PNG, HEIC, WebP, TIFF and RAW, decided by what you are going to do with the picture rather than by which is best. Including the one that quietly loses quality every time you save.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 5 min
Short answer
For a photograph you are sending, printing or uploading: JPEG, at high quality. For a screenshot, a diagram, a logo or anything with text or a transparent background: PNG. For anything you will edit repeatedly: keep the original, and export a copy each time rather than re-saving the same JPEG. HEIC and WebP are better formats that are not universally accepted, which is the whole of their problem.
Image formats divide on one question: whether the format throws information away to make the file smaller. JPEG does, deliberately and effectively, which is why photographs are small enough to email and why it has been the default for thirty years. PNG does not, which is why it is right for a screenshot where blurring the text would be intolerable, and wrong for a holiday photograph where the file would be enormous. Almost every real decision follows from that split, plus one important consequence people meet without recognising it: because JPEG discards information at every save, repeatedly opening and re-saving the same file degrades it a little each time.
Step by step
- Choose JPEG for photographs.Continuous-tone images with gradual colour changes — people, landscapes, anything from a camera. It is universally supported, it compresses photographs extremely well, and at high quality settings the loss is invisible. This is the right default for anything you are sending or uploading.
- Choose PNG for anything with hard edges or transparency.Screenshots, diagrams, logos, charts, anything containing text. JPEG smears the edges of text and produces visible artefacts around sharp lines. PNG also supports transparency, which JPEG does not at all — that alone decides it for a logo.
- Understand HEIC before converting your photo library out of it.It is what iPhones and many Android phones now save by default, and it stores the same picture in roughly half the space at the same quality. Its problem is compatibility: older Windows machines, some websites and some printing services do not accept it. Both platforms convert automatically when sharing, so the friction is smaller than it was — the catalogue has a guide on opening HEIC on Windows.
- Know what WebP and AVIF are when you meet them.Modern web formats that are better than JPEG and PNG at both jobs, and increasingly what a browser gives you when you save an image from a website. Every current browser displays them; older desktop software often will not, which is why a saved image sometimes refuses to open in an old program.
- Use TIFF only where something demands it.A lossless format for archiving and professional printing, producing very large files. It is the right answer when a print service or an archive specification asks for it, and unnecessary otherwise.
- Keep RAW files if your camera produces them.RAW is the sensor's unprocessed data, not really an image format at all. It holds far more information for adjusting exposure and colour afterwards, at the cost of large files and needing software to interpret them. Keep the RAW as the original and export JPEGs for use.
- Never edit and re-save the same JPEG repeatedly.Each save discards a little more, and it compounds. Keep the original untouched, and export a new copy each time you make a change. This is the single most useful habit in this guide, and it is why editing software offers Export as a separate command from Save.
- Match the size to the purpose, not just the format.A photograph for a website needs a fraction of the pixels of one for printing, and a full-resolution image emailed to twelve people is a waste for everyone. The catalogue's guide on compressing a file or photo covers reducing dimensions as well as quality — reducing dimensions is usually the bigger win.
Common mistakes
- Saving everything as PNG to avoid quality loss — A PNG photograph can be five or ten times the size of a visually identical JPEG. PNG is right for graphics and wrong for photographs, and the file size difference is not marginal.
- Using maximum JPEG quality for everything — The difference between high and maximum is usually invisible and often doubles the file size. High quality is the sensible default for anything being sent or uploaded.
- Converting an entire phone photo library from HEIC to JPEG — It roughly doubles the storage used and loses nothing you gain. Both platforms convert on the way out when needed, so the compatibility problem is best solved at the point of sharing.
If it doesn't work
Text in a screenshot looks fuzzy and smeared
Cause: It was saved as JPEG — Fix: Save screenshots as PNG. The smearing around sharp edges is JPEG's characteristic artefact and cannot be removed once saved.
A logo has a white box behind it
Cause: Transparency was lost by saving as JPEG — Fix: JPEG has no transparency. Save as PNG, and if the transparency has already been flattened you need the original file back — it cannot be recovered.
A photo file is enormous
Cause: Saved as PNG or TIFF, or at full camera resolution — Fix: Photographs belong in JPEG. Also check the dimensions — a modern camera image is far larger than any screen needs.
A website will not accept a HEIC file
Cause: Limited support — Fix: Convert to JPEG. On an iPhone, setting the camera to Most Compatible saves as JPEG directly; both platforms also convert when sharing to most destinations.
A photo has got visibly worse over time
Cause: Repeated JPEG saves — Fix: Nothing recovers it. Work from the original in future, and export copies rather than re-saving the working file.
A saved web image will not open in an old program
Cause: It is WebP or AVIF — Fix: Convert it, or open it in a browser and re-save. Most current image software handles both now; older versions do not.
Questions people ask
Does converting a JPEG to PNG restore the quality?
No. The information JPEG discarded is gone, and PNG simply preserves the degraded version losslessly in a much larger file. Conversion never adds detail back, which is a useful thing to know about every claim to the contrary.
What about images an AI tool has enlarged?
They invent plausible detail rather than recovering real detail. That can look better and is genuinely useful for display, and it is not evidence of what was there — which matters if the image is a document, a receipt or a record.
Which format should I use for scanned documents?
PDF rather than an image format, because it handles multiple pages and can hold searchable text. If you need an image, PNG for text documents and JPEG for photographs. The catalogue has guides on scanning to PDF and making a scanned PDF searchable.
Do image formats affect how much detail a print has?
Resolution matters far more than format. A high-quality JPEG at sufficient pixel dimensions prints indistinguishably from a lossless file. A small image blown up to a large print looks poor whatever format it is in.