There have been many debates going online about PNG vs JPG image formats and people everywhere are throwing their suggestions. I wasn’t interested in it until one of my friend asked me if there was really a difference. So this post will highlight the difference between PNG and JPG image formats and when they will be of most beneficial.
PNG Image Format
PNG or Portable Network Graphics is an image format that is designed for text and vector graphics. This is best suited for images that do not have a lots of colours. Most of the web developers prefer PNG over JPG for using images on the web. One more area where PNG excels is the quality of the image. Quality of the image is not reduced in PNG images when they are compressed, that is why PNG images are called lossless compressed images.
JPG Image Format
JPG format has thousands of colours and are best suited for photography, or the images with a lots of colours. JPG is a lossy compressed image format and the quality of the image is decreased when JPG images are compressed. The JPG images can be made much smaller than the PNG images with some loss in overall picture quality.
PNG vs JPG
| Quality | PNG | JPG |
|---|---|---|
| Use | In vector images and text and images with less colours | Photographic images and images with lots of colours. |
| Size | Smaller when not using many colours. Higher with images with many colours. | Smaller when compressed with a marginal loss in quality |
| Good For | Vector images, logos, text | Photographs, gradients, realistic images |
| Transparency | Available | Only Opaque |
| Changeable Colour Palette | Yes (True Color, 256 Bits, 128 Bits ….) | No (Only Quality can be changes in percentage) |
| Loss in Quality When Compressed | No | Yes |