Convert PNG to JPG
PNG files are lossless and often huge — especially screenshots and exports from design tools. Converting to JPG dramatically cuts file size for photos and uploads where you don't need transparency.
To convert PNG to JPG, drop a PNG here and pick a quality between 10% and 100%. The tool flattens the PNG's transparency onto a white background (JPG has no alpha channel), re-encodes it with JPEG's DCT compression, and lets you download the result. Expect a 5–15× reduction in file size for photo-like PNGs at 85–90% quality, with no visible difference to the eye. Everything happens locally in your browser — the PNG never leaves your device. The transparency flattening is the detail that catches people out: a logo with a transparent background gains a white rectangle that becomes obvious the moment it sits on any coloured page, and no quality setting prevents it, because JPEG has no alpha channel at all. If you need both a smaller file and transparency, convert to WebP instead. Quality below about 60 percent starts showing blocking in skies and skin tones, while above 95 percent the file grows sharply for gains almost nobody can see.
Drop a PNG here, or click to upload
Output: JPG
What happens when you convert PNG to JPG?
JPG (JPEG, ISO/IEC 10918) is a lossy format optimised for continuous-tone images. It uses 8×8 discrete-cosine-transform blocks, chroma subsampling and a quantisation table you control indirectly through the quality slider. At quality 90 the JPG is visually indistinguishable from the PNG for photographs; at quality 60 blocking starts to appear on flat gradients. Because JPG assumes a full RGB pixel, transparent PNG pixels have to be composited onto a solid color — we use white by default, matching most word processors and email clients. Screenshots and UI PNGs with lots of flat color compress relatively poorly in JPG and are better kept as PNG or converted to WebP.
Common mistakes and limitations when going from PNG to JPG
JPG cannot store transparency, so any alpha channel in the PNG is discarded. It also loses fidelity every time you re-save, so treat the PNG as your master and export a JPG only for the final delivery. Text-heavy images, screenshots of code, and pixel art suffer visible artifacts at any JPG quality — keep those as PNG. Finally, JPG's 8-bit color depth means banding can appear on very smooth gradients, especially at quality below 80.
Choosing the right settings for PNG to JPG
Quality between 80 and 92 is the useful working range. Below 80, ringing appears around text and sharp edges; above 92 the file grows quickly for differences almost nobody can see. For photographic content, 85 is a good default and typically produces a file five to ten times smaller than the source PNG. The decision that actually matters is what happens to transparency. JPG has no alpha channel, so any transparent pixel is composited onto a background — white here. A logo designed to sit on a dark page will suddenly carry a white box around it. If the PNG has transparency you intend to keep, this conversion is the wrong move. The second consideration is content type. JPG's discrete cosine transform is built for photographs, where detail is continuous and noisy. It handles screenshots, diagrams, line art and anything with large flat areas of colour poorly, producing visible mosquito noise around every hard edge. A screenshot of a code editor converted to JPG at quality 85 looks noticeably worse than the same screenshot as a PNG, and is often not much smaller. After converting, view the result at 100% rather than fitted to the window. Downscaled previews hide compression artefacts almost completely, which is why people ship JPGs that look fine in a thumbnail and poor in the actual layout.
PNG to JPG conversion FAQ
What quality setting should I choose?
- 85–90 is the sweet spot for photographs — a 5–10× size reduction with no visible loss. Drop to 70–80 for large hero images where every kilobyte matters; stay above 90 for prints.
What happens to transparent pixels?
- They are composited onto a solid white background before JPG encoding, because JPG has no alpha channel.
Will my PNG file be deleted?
- No. Conversion runs on a canvas element in your browser and produces a new JPG blob; your original PNG stays untouched on disk.
Why does my screenshot look worse as JPG?
- JPG's DCT compression struggles with sharp text edges and flat UI colors. For screenshots keep PNG, or try WebP for a good middle ground.
Is JPG smaller than WebP?
- Usually WebP is 25–35% smaller than JPG at the same visible quality. Use JPG when you need universal compatibility (older email clients, print, government forms).
Can I re-convert a JPG back to PNG later?
- You can, but the JPG's compression artifacts will be baked in — the resulting PNG cannot restore the lost detail. Keep the PNG master.
How do I keep EXIF metadata?
- Canvas re-encoding strips EXIF. If you need camera metadata, use a dedicated image tool that copies EXIF blocks; the browser Canvas API does not.
Does the white background change if my PNG has a colored fringe?
- Yes — anti-aliased edges designed for a dark background will show a bright halo on white. Recolor the fringe in an editor first if this matters.
PNG vs JPG at a glance
| Property | PNG source | JPG output |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy, quality-controlled |
| Transparency | Yes | No (flattened to white) |
| Typical photo size | 3–10 MB | 300 KB–1 MB |
| Repeated saves | No degradation | Cumulative loss |
| Best used for | Screenshots, logos | Photos, uploads, email |
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References: ISO/IEC 10918 (JPEG specification), libjpeg-turbo documentation, W3C guidance on image format selection for the web.