WebP vs JPG: Which Should You Use?
For photos, WebP and JPG do the same job, but WebP does it with smaller files and adds transparency and animation. JPG's strength is that every device and app on earth opens it.
WebP vs JPG
Short answer
Use WebP for photos on websites: roughly 25–50% smaller at the same visual quality. Use JPG for photos you share, email, print or upload elsewhere.
WebP vs JPG at a glance
| Property | WebP | JPG |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Lossy (small files, some detail discarded) |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Animation | Yes | No |
| Opens in | All modern browsers; some older apps and upload forms don't accept it | All browsers and devices |
| Best for | Fast-loading website images | Photos, sharing, email, social media |
Use WebP for
- Photos on your own website
- Image-heavy pages that need to load fast
- Photos that need transparency
Use JPG for
- Sharing, email and messaging
- Uploading to forms and marketplaces
- Printing
- Maximum compatibility
File size test
How big are the files?
We saved the same two images in both formats with our converter at default settings (quality 85 for lossy formats).
| Test image | WebP | JPG | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1600 × 1200 photo | 92 KB | 175 KB | WebP 47% smaller |
| 1200 × 800 screenshot with text | 17 KB | 38 KB | WebP 55% smaller |
Key differences
File size
In our photo test, WebP was 92 KB and JPG 175 KB at the same quality setting, 47% smaller.
Features
WebP supports transparency and animation; JPG supports neither.
Compatibility
All modern browsers show WebP, but some apps, email clients and upload forms don't accept it. JPG is universal.
WebP
What is a WebP file?
WebP is a raster graphics file format developed by Google specifically for web optimization, utilizing the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) container. It employs predictive coding based on the VP8 video codec for lossy compression and the LZ77 algorithm with entropy coding for lossless compression. WebP supports transparency (alpha channel) in both lossy and lossless modes, as well as animation, often achieving file sizes 26-34% smaller than comparable JPEG or PNG files while maintaining high structural similarity (SSIM) index scores.
How to open a WebP file
WebP is natively supported by all modern web browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari. For offline viewing, Windows 10 and 11 support WebP via the Photos app (often requiring the Webp Image Extensions package), while macOS users can view them in Preview (macOS Big Sur and later). Legacy systems or incompatible editors require conversion tools or third-party viewers like IrfanView to render the image data.
- Full Name
- Web Picture
- Developed By
- Initial Release
- 2010
- MIME Type
- image/webp
JPG
What is a JPG file?
JPG is functionally identical to the JPEG format, differing only in the file extension length, a legacy constraint from the MS-DOS 8.3 filename limit (which allowed only three characters for extensions). It implements the same ISO/IEC 10918 standard, using lossy compression based on Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Huffman coding to store photorealistic images. The file structure contains markers such as Start of Image (SOI) and End of Image (EOI) and supports color spaces like sRGB and CMYK, making it interchangeable with .jpeg files in all software contexts.
How to open a JPG file
As one of the most ubiquitous file types in computing, JPG files open natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux without external software. Default viewers like Microsoft Photos, Apple Preview, and Linux image viewers handle the format automatically. For editing or conversion, industry-standard tools including Adobe Photoshop, Paint.NET, and XnView provide extensive support. Web browsers universally render JPGs without plugins.
- Full Name
- Joint Photographic Experts Group
- Developed By
- Joint Photographic Experts Group
- Initial Release
- 1992
- MIME Type
- image/jpeg
WebP vs JPG