For your website, use JPG for photographs and complex images with many colours, PNG for logos, graphics, text and anything that needs a transparent background, and GIF for simple animations. Choosing the right format helps your pages load faster and perform better.
JPG (JPEG)
JPEG is the most common image format on the web. It suits photographs and complex images with many colours, shadows, gradients and patterns. JPG offers a wide colour range, and you can save images at different quality settings to balance image quality against file size.
Tip: for photographic content, use JPG for a good balance between quality and loading time. If the image is mainly text or graphic elements, PNG is a better choice.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
PNG is ideal for designs, infographics, images with text and logos. It gives higher quality than JPEG but usually results in larger files. PNG works well for areas of flat colour and text with sharp lines, so you can zoom in without losing quality. PNG also supports transparent backgrounds, which makes it excellent for logos and overlay graphics.
Tip: when saving PNG images, choose 24-bit over 8-bit for better quality and a richer colour range.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
GIF suits animated images, such as product demos or screen recordings, thanks to its small file size and support for animation. See the article on adding animated GIF images to your website to learn more.