What happens when you convert PNG to JPEG
- The image is decoded and written as a baseline JPEG at 90 percent quality.
- JPEG has no transparency, so transparent areas are filled with white.
- PNG is lossless and JPEG is not, so the file shrinks a lot, at the cost of some fine detail around sharp edges.
How to convert PNG to JPEG online
- Press "Choose PNG files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. You can add files of any size your device can hold in memory.
- Adjust the settings if you need to. Lower quality gives a smaller file.
- Press "Convert to JPEG". Images convert in a second or two each.
- Save each JPEG with its download button. Close the tab and every trace of the files is gone from memory.
Why convert PNG to JPEG?
PNG files usually come from screenshots, logos, diagrams and anything with transparency. People convert them to JPEG because JPEG opens everywhere and keeps photos small, which is why upload forms and email favour it.
In short, PNG is good at what it was made for, and JPEG is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. PNG opens in every browser and image viewer, while JPEG opens in every browser and image viewer.
How to convert PNG to JPEG on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your PNG files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each JPEG is saved to your Downloads folder. Paint can also re-save an image as JPEG with Save as, provided Windows can open the PNG in the first place.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the PNG files from Finder onto the drop zone and the JPEG files land in Downloads. Preview can do single images too: open the file, choose File, then Export, and pick JPEG.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose PNG files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted JPEG appears in Files, in the Downloads folder; to put it in your photo library, open it there, tap Share and choose Save Image.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose PNG files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The JPEG is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for PNG to JPEG
JPEG is lossy, so the Quality setting trades file size against detail. Best is 95, High is 90, Medium is 80 and Small file is 65 on the usual 0 to 100 scale. At High the difference from the PNG is invisible for photos; at Small file you may see softness around text and fine patterns.
The Maximum width setting shrinks large images before encoding. A 4000 pixel phone photo reduced to 1920 pixels loses three quarters of its pixels and most of its size, yet still fills a laptop screen.
PNG vs JPEG: the differences
| PNG | JPEG | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Portable Network Graphics | Joint Photographic Experts Group image |
| Type | image | image |
| Created by | the PNG Development Group | the Joint Photographic Experts Group |
| First released | 1996 | 1992 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Animation | No | No |
| Vector or raster | Raster | Raster |
| Colour | up to 16 bits per channel with a full alpha channel | 24-bit colour, 16.7 million colours |
| In a browser | opens in every browser and image viewer | opens in every browser and image viewer |
| Common uses | screenshots, logos, diagrams and anything with transparency | camera photos, scanned documents and web images |
| MIME type | image/png | image/jpeg |
About PNG and JPEG files
What is a PNG file?
PNG compresses without losing a single pixel, so screenshots and text stay razor sharp, but a photograph saved as PNG is often three to five times the size of the same photo as JPG.
What is a JPEG file?
JPEG and JPG are the same format. The three-letter extension dates from old Windows systems that only allowed three characters after the dot, and both names are still in use.
PNG to JPEG not working? Common problems
- Colours look slightly different. Browsers convert images to the standard sRGB colour space when they decode them, so wide-gamut and CMYK images can shift a little.
- A phone photo comes out upright even though it looked sideways elsewhere. That is correct: the rotation stored in the photo is applied during conversion, so the JPEG is always the right way up.
- Transparent areas turned white. JPEG cannot store transparency; convert to PNG or WebP instead if you need it.
Convert PNG to JPEG from the command line
If you work in a terminal, ImageMagick converts PNG to JPEG in one line:
magick input.png -quality 90 output.jpegTo convert every PNG in a folder at once, use magick mogrify -format jpeg *.png. The converter on this page does the same job without installing anything.
PNG to JPEG converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting PNG to JPEG?
A little, because JPEG is lossy. At the default setting the difference is hard to see, and the file is much smaller.
Why is the JPEG a different size from the PNG?
The JPEG is usually far smaller, because lossy compression discards detail the PNG kept.
Are my PNG files uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs inside this browser tab using your browser's own image decoder, so your files stay on your device. You can disconnect from the internet after the page has loaded and it still works.
Can I convert several PNG files to JPEG at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open a JPEG file?
JPEG opens in every browser and image viewer. JPEG is common for camera photos, scanned documents and web images.
Is this PNG to JPEG converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many files you convert. The site is paid for by advertising, and because conversions run on your device there is no server cost per file.
Can I convert PNG to JPEG on my phone?
Yes. The converter works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. Converted files are saved to the Downloads folder.