When it comes to using images on a website, there are four main types of images, and they’re good at their own specific use cases. These most common image formats are PNG, JPG, GIF and WEBP.
Optimizing your images can also help reduce their file size, which will make them faster to load on your website. By using the right image format, size and resolution, you can improve the usability of your website and make it more user-friendly for your visitors.
PNG - (Portable Network Graphics)
The PNG format is best used for images with text or graphics with sharp edges, as it supports transparency and has better compression capabilities than JPG.
JPG - (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
The JPEG format is better for photographs, as it compresses the image to reduce its file size, making it ideal for web use.
GIF - (Graphics Interchange Format)
The GIF format is best used for small images that don't need to be compressed, such as logos or icons.
WEBP - (Web Picture Format)
WEBP is a relatively new image format that is smaller in file size than PNG and JPG, making it ideal for use on the web. Additionally, it supports animation and transparency, making it a great choice for logos, icons and other graphics. WEBP also supports lossy and lossless compression, so you can choose the one that is best for your image and still reduce its file size.
SVG - (Scalable Vector Graphics)
This format is for vector images, as it supports animation and because it's vector based, not pixel based it can be scaled to any size without losing quality. It's also great for logos and icons, as it supports transparency and can be compressed without losing quality. Additionally, SVG images are typically much smaller in file size than other image formats, making them ideal for use on the web.
So what's the right format for you?
By choosing the right file format for your images, you can ensure that they look good on a wide range of devices and don't take up too much bandwidth.
- JPG format is better for photographs, as it compresses the image to reduce its file size, making it ideal for web use.
- GIF format is best used for small images that don't need to be compressed, such as logos or icons.
- SVG format is also a great choice for web graphics as it is scalable, meaning that it can be resized without losing image quality.
- PNG format is best used for images with text or graphics with sharp edges, as it supports transparency and has better compression capabilities than JPEG files.
- WEBP format is a relatively new image format that is smaller in file size than PNG and JPG, making it ideal for use on the web. You can also preserve quality and animation allowing for more than wiggle room over GIFs.
Finally, if tools like Photoshop aren't available, using online tools such as TinyPNG or Kraken.io to compress your images can help reduce their file size even further.
