Image Converter

When you'd use it

• Shrinking PNG screenshots that are far larger than they need to be.
• Converting a batch of images to WebP to cut page weight.
• Turning a WebP into PNG or JPG for a tool that does not accept WebP.
• Flattening an image with transparency onto a solid background.
• Converting camera or scanner output into a web-friendly format.

Choosing a format

The choice comes down to whether the image has flat colour or continuous tone, and whether it needs transparency.

• PNG is lossless and supports transparency. Correct for screenshots, logos, icons, diagrams, and anything with text or sharp edges. Wrong for photographs, where it produces very large files.
• JPG is lossy with no transparency. Correct for photographs and continuous-tone images. Wrong for screenshots and text, where its compression produces visible ringing around edges.
• WebP does both — lossy or lossless, with transparency in either mode — and is typically 25 to 35% smaller than the equivalent JPG or PNG. Supported by every current browser. The reason not to use it is compatibility with older desktop software rather than browsers.

Transparency becomes white when you convert to JPG

JPG has no alpha channel. There is no way to store "transparent" in the format, so transparent pixels have to be composited onto something, and this tool uses white.

The result is the classic white rectangle behind a logo placed on a dark background. If your image has transparency and you need to keep it, convert to PNG or WebP. If you are deliberately flattening — because the destination cannot handle alpha — this is the expected behaviour, but check that white is the right backdrop.

Quality settings, and why re-encoding compounds

The quality slider applies to JPG and lossy WebP. Around 80 to 85 is the usual sweet spot: visually indistinguishable from the original in most photographs, at a fraction of the size. Below about 60, artefacts become visible in smooth gradients and around edges.

Lossy compression is not idempotent. Each encode discards information, and decoding and re-encoding discards more, even at quality 100. Converting a JPG to WebP and back to JPG leaves you with two generations of loss. Always convert from the highest-quality original you have rather than from a previously compressed copy.

Metadata is not preserved

Conversion goes through a canvas, which yields raw pixels and nothing else. EXIF data — camera settings, timestamps, and GPS coordinates — does not survive.

That is a privacy win by default: photographs published straight from a phone frequently carry the exact location where they were taken, and conversion strips it. It is a loss if you are managing a photo library and need the capture data, in which case keep the originals.

One consequence to watch for: EXIF also carries the orientation flag. An image that displays upright in some viewers because of that flag will be converted in its stored orientation, which can come out rotated.

Frequently asked questions

Which input formats are accepted?

JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, SVG, and ICO. Output is PNG, JPG, or WebP.

Are my images uploaded?

No. Decoding and encoding both happen in a canvas element in your browser.

What happens to an animated GIF?

Only the first frame is converted. None of the output formats used here carry animation as this tool writes them.

How is an SVG converted?

It is rasterised at its natural size, which loses the scalability that made it an SVG. Keep the SVG for anything that needs to scale; convert only when a raster format is required.

My converted file is bigger than the original.

Usually converting a photograph to PNG, which stores continuous tone very inefficiently. It can also happen re-encoding an already well-optimised file. Match the format to the image type.

Can I resize as well as convert?

No, this tool changes format and compression only. Dimensions are preserved.