All formats
PNG vs WebP
WebP replaces PNG for the web: it keeps transparency and is typically half the size or less. PNG stays the better master format because it is lossless, so it survives repeated editing without degrading. Ship WebP, keep PNG.
Side by side
| Spec | PNG | WebP |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Image | Image |
| Extensions | .png | .webp |
| Introduced | 1996 | 2010 |
| Compression | Lossless | Both |
| MIME type | image/png | image/webp |
| Use it when | Screenshots, logos, icons, images with transparency, or any master file you will edit again. | Serving images on the web and you want the smallest files with broad browser support. |
| Avoid it when | Publishing large photographs to the web, where WebP or AVIF will be far smaller at the same quality. | Handing files to a client, a printer, or older desktop software that may not support it. |
Where the usual answer breaks
Small icons and images with very few colours can be smaller as PNG, which compresses flat colour extremely well.
PNG
- Lossless, so quality never degrades across saves
- Full 8-bit alpha transparency
- Excellent for text, screenshots, logos and flat colour
- Much larger than JPG or WebP for photographs
- No native animation support in practice (APNG is a separate extension)
WebP
- Smaller than JPG at similar visual quality, and smaller than PNG when lossless
- Supports transparency and animation, which JPG cannot
- Supported in all current major browsers
- Older desktop software and some print workflows still will not open it
- Lossy WebP, like JPG, degrades on every re-encode
Convert between PNG and WebP
PNG to WebP
WebP keeps the alpha channel, so this is the one conversion that shrinks a transparent PNG without flattening it. Screenshots and UI exports often drop by half.
WebP to PNG
The common reason is software that refuses to open WebP. PNG is lossless, so nothing further is lost, but the file grows because it is now storing an already-compressed image without compression.
Other comparisons
Last updated 2026-08-03