JPEG or PNG – Which Image Format Offers Better Quality?

You can save any image in PNG, JPEG, GIF and dozen other file formats but which offers better image quality?

Which File Format Should You Choose?

GIF format is limited to 256 colors and is a lossless compression file format, a common choice for use on the Web. GIF is a good choice for storing line drawings, text, and iconic graphics at a small file size.

PNG format is a lossless compression file format, which makes it a common choice for use on the Web. PNG is a good choice for storing line drawings, text, and iconic graphics at a small file size.

JPG format is a lossy compressed file format. This makes it useful for storing photographs at a smaller size than a BMP. JPG is a common choice for use on the Web because it is compressed. For storing line drawings, text, and iconic graphics at a smaller file size, GIF or PNG are better choices because they are lossless.

JPEGs are for photographs and realistic images. PNGs are for line art, text-heavy images, and images with few colors. GIFs are just fail.

Webcomic courtesy Louis. Randall Munroe at xkcd and Matthew Inman at Oatmeal use PNG for their web comics while Hugh MacLeod at GapingVoid uses the JPEG file format for his cartoons.