Why Your Website Images Should Probably Not Be PNG or JPG Anymore
I was helping a friend fix her portfolio site's loading speed a while back, and the culprit was obvious the moment I checked: every image was a full size PNG, some over 3MB each. She had no idea WEBP even existed. If you're still exporting everything as JPG or PNG for the web, you're probably leaving a lot of speed on the table, so let's go through what's changed.
Page speed affects everything: how long visitors stick around, how Google ranks your site, and how much data mobile users burn just loading your homepage. Images are usually the heaviest part of any webpage, so the format you choose has a bigger impact than most people expect.
WEBP
Developed by Google specifically for the web. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, handles transparency like PNG, and typically produces files 25 to 35 percent smaller than an equivalent JPG at the same visual quality. Almost every modern browser supports it now.
AVIF
The newest of the bunch, and often even smaller than WEBP for the same quality level, sometimes by a significant margin. It also supports transparency and HDR color. The tradeoff is that encoding takes a bit longer and a handful of older browsers or tools still don't fully support it.
The Older Formats, and Where They Still Belong
JPG
Still perfectly fine for photos where you don't need transparency and want maximum compatibility, including with older software and tools that haven't caught up to newer formats.
PNG
Still the right call when you need lossless quality or transparency and WEBP or AVIF isn't an option, for example certain older CMS themes or design tools.
GIF
Mostly outdated for anything other than short looping animations, and even there, modern formats often do it better and smaller.
A Simple Way to Decide:
Building a modern website and want the fastest load times? WEBP first, AVIF if your platform supports it well
Need a logo or icon with transparency for an older tool or client requirement? PNG
Sending or displaying a photo somewhere that needs universal compatibility? JPG
Uploading to a platform that only accepts certain formats? Check their requirements first, plenty of platforms still expect JPG or PNG specifically
Why People Get Stuck Here
The tricky part isn't picking the right format, it's actually converting your existing image library once you realize half your PNGs and JPGs should be WEBP. Most design tools don't export AVIF at all, and a lot of older photos were never touched again after the original export.
This is a big part of why I built Convert Free Media. It converts images, audio, and video entirely inside your browser, so nothing gets uploaded to a server anywhere.
-Drop in your PNG, JPG, GIF, or other image files
-Choose WEBP, AVIF, JPG, PNG, or another supported format
-Click convert
-Download the finished files right away
There's no signup, no file size limit, and no cap on how many images you convert at once, so batch converting an entire folder of old images takes just a couple of minutes.
If you're building or maintaining a website today, WEBP should be your default for most images, with AVIF as an upgrade where it's supported. Keep JPG and PNG around for compatibility edge cases, but don't let your entire image library sit in outdated formats just because that's what your camera or design tool happened to export by default. A quick batch conversion can meaningfully speed up a site that's been quietly loading slower than it needs to.
Why This Even Matters Now
Page speed affects everything: how long visitors stick around, how Google ranks your site, and how much data mobile users burn just loading your homepage. Images are usually the heaviest part of any webpage, so the format you choose has a bigger impact than most people expect.
The Newer Formats
WEBP
Developed by Google specifically for the web. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, handles transparency like PNG, and typically produces files 25 to 35 percent smaller than an equivalent JPG at the same visual quality. Almost every modern browser supports it now.
AVIF
The newest of the bunch, and often even smaller than WEBP for the same quality level, sometimes by a significant margin. It also supports transparency and HDR color. The tradeoff is that encoding takes a bit longer and a handful of older browsers or tools still don't fully support it.
The Older Formats, and Where They Still Belong
JPG
Still perfectly fine for photos where you don't need transparency and want maximum compatibility, including with older software and tools that haven't caught up to newer formats.
PNG
Still the right call when you need lossless quality or transparency and WEBP or AVIF isn't an option, for example certain older CMS themes or design tools.
GIF
Mostly outdated for anything other than short looping animations, and even there, modern formats often do it better and smaller.
A Simple Way to Decide:
Building a modern website and want the fastest load times? WEBP first, AVIF if your platform supports it well
Need a logo or icon with transparency for an older tool or client requirement? PNG
Sending or displaying a photo somewhere that needs universal compatibility? JPG
Uploading to a platform that only accepts certain formats? Check their requirements first, plenty of platforms still expect JPG or PNG specifically
Why People Get Stuck Here
The tricky part isn't picking the right format, it's actually converting your existing image library once you realize half your PNGs and JPGs should be WEBP. Most design tools don't export AVIF at all, and a lot of older photos were never touched again after the original export.
How I Handle This
This is a big part of why I built Convert Free Media. It converts images, audio, and video entirely inside your browser, so nothing gets uploaded to a server anywhere.
-Drop in your PNG, JPG, GIF, or other image files
-Choose WEBP, AVIF, JPG, PNG, or another supported format
-Click convert
-Download the finished files right away
There's no signup, no file size limit, and no cap on how many images you convert at once, so batch converting an entire folder of old images takes just a couple of minutes.
Bottom Line
If you're building or maintaining a website today, WEBP should be your default for most images, with AVIF as an upgrade where it's supported. Keep JPG and PNG around for compatibility edge cases, but don't let your entire image library sit in outdated formats just because that's what your camera or design tool happened to export by default. A quick batch conversion can meaningfully speed up a site that's been quietly loading slower than it needs to.