
This is because PNG files were not intended to reduce file size, so they retain more image detail and information than a JPG. PNGs are often higher quality than a JPG. However, you can just as easily save a photograph as a PNG. PNG is an acronym for Portable Network Graphics, and the image format is indeed optimized for graphics like graphs, logos, and text. It also means that you lose that data forever when the file is saved, so you can’t restore a JPG to its original quality. This creates a smaller file, but it also means you lose some of the data in the image, resulting is lower quality. The algorithm used to compress JPG images finds pixels that are essentially the same color, or value, and blocks them together into tiles.
Compression creates a loss in quality: The main advantage of JPG images - smaller file size - also happens to be their weakness. Resizing images to smaller file sizes with free image resizing tools is a quick shortcut. When a JPEG file is first saved, the rate of compression is about 10:1, so if you have a 20MB (megabyte) image that is then saved as a JPEG, you can expect the file to be 2MB in size.
If you are designing a website, for example, utilizing JPG images will get you faster page load times and provide a better user experience because the files are smaller.
Smaller file size: This is the huge advantage of JPG images. Most of the photos you find online are likely in JPG format. Pronounced “jay-peg,” JPGs are designed to minimize the file size of photographs to make them more suitable for sharing and using in web design. In the older days of computers, file types had a character limit of three (hence JPG), but JPEG is now becoming more common. You’ll commonly see JPG expressed as JPEG, and functionally they mean the same thing. The JPG format was developed by Joint Photographics Export Group, which is where the file name comes from. Dive in and discover which file format works best for your current project: We’ll also show you how to convert your image files to and from other formats, like how to change a JPG to a PDF. There’s also PDF, which is in another class from these usual image formats but can still perform a few similar functions. Below, we’ll breakdown the much-discussed comparison of PNG vs JPG so that you know how to use each. Two of the most common (and commonly confused) file formats are JPG vs PNG. No format is designed to accomplish the same tasks. Images come in many shapes and sizes and every image format has its particular strengths and weaknesses.