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PNG vs WebP: Which Format Is Better for Websites?

Published March 5, 2026 · Updated March 13, 2026 · 4 min read

WebP was designed specifically to replace both JPG and PNG on the web. It offers better compression than both and supports transparency like PNG. In practice, it's the right choice for most new web projects — but understanding when PNG still wins is worth knowing.

How WebP differs from PNG

PNG is a lossless format — every pixel is stored exactly. WebP supports both lossless and lossy compression modes. In lossless mode, WebP produces files that are typically 25–35% smaller than PNG at identical quality. In lossy mode, it competes with JPG for photographs at even smaller file sizes.

Both formats support full alpha channel transparency, so WebP can do everything PNG does in this regard — transparent backgrounds, semi-transparent overlays, gradients that fade to nothing.

File size comparison

For a typical web image — a product photo, a blog thumbnail, a hero image — WebP in lossy mode is typically 25–35% smaller than JPG and dramatically smaller than PNG. For a logo or icon with sharp edges and flat colours, WebP in lossless mode is typically 26% smaller than PNG at identical visual quality.

In practice, a site that switches from PNG and JPG to WebP often sees 20–30% reductions in total image payload, which translates directly to faster page loads, lower bandwidth costs, and better Core Web Vitals scores.

Real example: a 1200×800 product photo might be 180 KB as a quality-80 JPG, 1.4 MB as a PNG, and 130 KB as a quality-80 WebP. The WebP is smaller than the JPG and looks indistinguishable to most users.

Browser support

As of 2024, WebP is supported by all modern browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and their mobile equivalents. Safari added support in version 14 (2020), which resolved the last major holdout. If your analytics show users on Safari 13 or older, they'll see broken images if you serve WebP without a fallback.

The <picture> element in HTML handles this cleanly:

<picture>
  <source srcset="image.webp" type="image/webp">
  <img src="image.png" alt="Description">
</picture>

Modern browsers use the WebP. Older ones fall back to PNG. This approach is the safest for broad compatibility.

When PNG still wins

Tool compatibility. Not every application accepts WebP. Email clients, some CMSes, image editing software, and many upload forms still expect JPG or PNG. If the image needs to leave your website and go somewhere else, PNG is safer.

Source files and editing. Keep working files as PNG. WebP is a delivery format. Edit in PNG, export as WebP for the web.

When simplicity matters. If you're building a simple site and don't need the complexity of format negotiation or conversion pipelines, sticking with PNG for graphics and JPG for photos is a perfectly reasonable choice.