PNG vs JPEGīoth PNG and JPEG are image file formats capable of reproducing around 16 million colours. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, with these images saved under the. This makes the file type ideal for sharing digital photography online. This means that JPEGs are small enough to upload to websites and social media and load very quickly for others to see. Unlike PNGs, JPEGs go through a form of lossy compression. One area that still relies heavily on JPEG files over HEIF is social media due to the fact the latter isn’t supported on Twitter or Instagram yet. What is a JPEG?Ī JPEG is a file type commonly found on cameras and smartphones, though the format is increasingly being replaced by the HEIF format on these devices. PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics and uses the file extension. This allows them to retain more detail but also means that they take longer to load on websites and take up more space on your devices. The biggest downside to PNGs is that these files are typically larger than JPEG files. One major benefit to PNGs is that they can retain transparent elements, such as backgrounds, making them ideal for situations where you don’t want to see a white box framing your work, such as a logo on a website. PNG is a file format typically reserved for illustrations and web graphics due to its lossless compression technique.