JPG vs WebP — Which Should You Use?

Choose JPG when

When the file has to work everywhere without thinking — a CV, a marketplace listing, a printer, a decade-old phone. JPG is the most universally readable image there is.

Choose WebP when

On a website you control. Same photograph, same apparent quality, meaningfully fewer bytes, and every browser in current use reads it.

The thing that catches people out

Converting an existing JPG to WebP does not recover what JPG already discarded. It re-compresses an already lossy image, so start from the original if you still have it.

What JPG to WebP actually does

A generated landscape with a low sun and three ridges, used to show what JPEG does to continuous tone. Shown as JPG. — A photographic scene — smooth gradients, soft edges, grain. This is the case WebP is designed for or against, and the figures show which. Both images are drawn in code and encoded by the same converter that runs on this page, so the sizes are this site's own output.

A generated landscape with a low sun and three ridges, used to show what JPEG does to continuous tone. Shown as WebP. — A photographic scene — smooth gradients, soft edges, grain. This is the case WebP is designed for or against, and the figures show which. Both images are drawn in code and encoded by the same converter that runs on this page, so the sizes are this site's own output.

A generated badge: a circular gradient on a transparent background with a white bar across it, used to show what each format does with transparency and with hundreds of shades. Shown as JPG. — A transparent background and a gradient across the shape. WebP either keeps both, keeps one, or fills the transparency with a solid colour — which is the difference that catches people out. Both images are drawn in code and encoded by the same converter that runs on this page, so the sizes are this site's own output.

A generated application window with a sidebar, a table and a bar chart, used to show what JPEG does to flat colour and hard edges. Shown as JPG. — Flat colour and hard edges, as in an interface, a chart or a logo. Very different behaviour from the photograph above, and the reason the answer is "it depends what is in the file". Both images are drawn in code and encoded by the same converter that runs on this page, so the sizes are this site's own output.

A generated application window with a sidebar, a table and a bar chart, used to show what JPEG does to flat colour and hard edges. Shown as WebP. — Flat colour and hard edges, as in an interface, a chart or a logo. Very different behaviour from the photograph above, and the reason the answer is "it depends what is in the file". Both images are drawn in code and encoded by the same converter that runs on this page, so the sizes are this site's own output.

Side by side

JPG and WebP compared row by row: what each stores, and what it costs.
	JPG	WebP
Full name	JPEG Image	WebP Image
Extension	.jpg, .jpeg, .jpe	.webp
Media type	image/jpeg	image/webp
Compression	Lossy — file size is bought with quality	Either, depending on the setting
This site can write it	Yes	Yes

Decided? Convert it here

Where these figures come from

The claims this page makes about JPG and WebP are checkable, and these are the documents that settle them.

T.81: Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still images
ITU-T — How JPEG discards detail, and why it suits continuous tone
WebP Container Specification
Google — WebP’s lossy and lossless modes in one container