How to use it
- Drop in one or more JPGs.
- Each is converted straight away. There are no settings, because PNG is lossless.
- Download the PNGs.
What converting to PNG does and does not do
This is the conversion people most often expect more from. Turning a JPG into a PNG will not sharpen it, remove blockiness or add a transparent background. The PNG is an exact, lossless copy of the pixels the JPG already had. The file will usually be several times larger for the same picture.
So why do it? Three good reasons:
- Something requires PNG. Some upload forms, sticker makers and design tools only accept PNG.
- You are about to edit. Every save of a JPG is another round of compression. Converting once to PNG, doing your edits, and exporting a final JPG at the end avoids the build-up of artefacts.
- You want to add transparency later. A JPG cannot hold it; a PNG can. After converting, the background remover can knock out a plain background.
JPG, JPEG and JFIF are the same thing
The three extensions all refer to the same format. .jpeg is the full name, .jpg dates from when Windows only allowed three-letter extensions, and .jfif is what some versions of Windows name images saved from a browser. This page takes all three.
JPG and PNG compared
| JPG | PNG | |
|---|---|---|
| First released | 1992 | 1996 |
| Compression | Lossy | Lossless |
| Transparency | No | Yes, including soft edges |
| Animation or pages | No | Only as APNG, rarely used |
| Best for | Photos for sharing, email and print | Screenshots, graphics, text and transparency |
| Support | Universal | Universal |
Questions people ask
Does JPG to PNG improve image quality?
No. It preserves what is there exactly, but it cannot recover detail the JPG compression already removed.
Why is the PNG so much bigger?
PNG keeps every pixel exactly, and photos contain a lot of fine texture that lossless compression cannot shrink much. JPG gets its small size by discarding detail you are unlikely to notice.
Can I make the background transparent while converting?
Not in this step, since a JPG has no transparency to carry over. Convert first, then use the transparent background tool.