PNG to JPG converter

Drop PNG files into the box above and they come back as JPGs at the same dimensions, usually far smaller when the picture is a photo. Two settings decide the result: the quality, and whether transparent areas turn white or black. Convert one image or a whole batch; it's free, and the work happens in your browser, not on a server.

Why a PNG photo is so large

PNG is lossless: it stores every pixel exactly, which makes it a good format for graphics and for pictures you're still editing. For photographs, that precision costs a lot of space. JPG was built for photos, with an adjustable compression that trades a little detail for a much smaller file, and for a photo the extra size of a PNG buys hardly any visible quality.

That's why a PNG photo is worth converting when it has to go somewhere with limits: an email attachment, an upload form with a size cap or a JPG-only rule, a web page that should load quickly, or a phone that's short on storage. Photos can end up as PNGs by accident: exported from an app that saves PNG, or captured as a screenshot. A Mac, for example, saves screenshots as PNG in its standard capture format.

What happens to transparent areas

JPG can't hold transparency, so every transparent pixel in the PNG has to become a solid color. The converter asks you which: White or Black. Partly transparent pixels, such as the soft edge of a cutout or the smoothed rim of a logo's lettering, are blended into that color, so the edge looks right on a matching background.

Pick the fill for where the picture will appear. White suits documents, slides with light themes and most web pages; black suits dark designs. On any other color, a JPG of a transparent logo shows a white or black box around it. If the picture has to sit on different backgrounds, keep the PNG, or choose WebP, which also stores transparency; what a transparent background is explains the formats that do.

Using the quality slider

With JPG selected, the slider runs from 50 to 100% and starts at 92%. Higher values keep more fine detail and make bigger files. Lower values make smaller files, and at some point the compression shows: blocky patches in smooth areas such as sky, and speckled noise around sharp edges. Every time you move the slider, the whole list is converted again, and each row shows the PNG's size next to the new JPG's, so you can find the lowest setting that still looks right to you.

Treat the PNG as your master copy. Each time a JPG is opened, edited and saved again, it loses a little more detail, so make your edits on the PNG and convert to JPG at the end.

When to keep the PNG

A JPG isn't the better file for everything. Keep the PNG when the image is:

• Text or a screenshot of an app. JPG compression leaves visible noise around letters and thin lines.
• A logo, icon, chart or line drawing. Hard edges and flat colors stay crisp only in a lossless file.
• Something that needs a transparent background. A sticker, an overlay or a logo for a colored header.
• Still being edited. The PNG loses nothing each time you save it.

Converting a batch

The quality and the fill color apply to every file in the list, which keeps a batch consistent: a set of product shots or slide images all get the same compression and the same color behind any transparent parts. Files are named after the originals, so beach.png becomes beach.jpg, and once two or more are finished they can be saved together as a ZIP. The JPGs carry none of the PNGs' metadata, such as camera details, dates or GPS locations, because the pixels are encoded from scratch.

The same converter works the other way and with other formats. JPG to PNG explains what a lossless copy of a JPG does and doesn't do, WebP to PNG handles images saved from websites, and the HEIC to JPG converter turns iPhone photos into JPGs. For a picture whose background should go, each row's Remove background button opens it in the AI background remover.