Convert Image to JPG

Transparency: why logos sometimes come out on black

PNG supports transparency. JPG does not — the format has no channel for it at all. So every converter has to fill transparent pixels with a colour, and the colour it picks is a decision the tool makes for you.

A fair number of converters leave the canvas at its default, which is black. That is why people convert a logo with a transparent background and get white lettering on a black rectangle, then assume they broke something. Nothing broke; the tool chose badly.

This one fills transparent areas with white before drawing the image, so a logo intended for a white page comes out looking the way you expect. If you need a different backing colour, or you need the transparency kept, JPG is the wrong destination — stay with PNG, or use WebP, which supports both transparency and small files.

When converting to JPG is the right move — and when it isn't

This is the part most converter pages skip, and it decides whether you end up better off.

Convert photographs. JPEG was designed for continuous-tone images, and a photograph saved as PNG is usually several times larger than it needs to be with no visible benefit. This is where the conversion pays off, often dramatically.

Do not convert screenshots, logos, diagrams, line art or anything containing text. JPEG compression works by discarding detail around sharp edges, and sharp edges are exactly what those images are made of. You get faint grey halos and fuzz around every letter and line. Screenshots of code or spreadsheets show it worst. Keep those as PNG.

The short version: if it came out of a camera, convert it. If it came out of a screen, leave it alone.

The quality setting

The slider runs from 10 to 100 and starts at 92, which is high enough that the loss is invisible on a photograph while still cutting the file substantially. Around 80 is a reasonable choice for images headed onto a web page, where a little more compression is a fair trade for load time. Below about 60 you start to see blocking in flat areas like skies.

One thing to keep in mind: JPEG is lossy every time it is saved. Converting, then editing, then saving again compounds the damage, so it is worth keeping the PNG original and treating the JPG as an output rather than your working copy.

Several at once

Add multiple files and each is converted with the same quality setting, with its own download row. Two or more files come back as a single ZIP so you are not clicking through them one by one.

The whole thing runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded — which for the screenshots, receipts and photos of documents that people convert all day is worth more than it sounds.

Related tools

Convert Image to PNG goes the other way when you need transparency or lossless quality back. Compress Image reduces file size without changing format, which is often what someone actually wants, and Convert Image Format handles the other formats.