Best Image Formats Explained

With so many options out there, understanding which format to export your assets in can be incredibly confusing.

1. The Workhorse: JPEG (JPG)

The standard. The king. JPEGs utilize mathematical grid quantization to literally throw away data your eye supposedly can't see, making the file incredibly small. Use this for: Complex photography, hero images with millions of colors.

2. The Clear Choice: PNG

PNGs are lossless, meaning every single pixel is retained perfectly. Crucially, they also allow an "alpha channel" which produces background transparency. Use this for: Logos, transparent icons, flat-colored illustrations.

3. The Modern Titan: WebP

Developed by Google, WebP essentially does the job of both JPG and PNG, but ~30% smaller. It supports transparency and both lossy/lossless algorithms. Use this for: Most modern web assets—just be aware a tiny fraction of ancient browsers (like outdated Safari versions) might fail to render it.