How to Convert PNG and WebP to JPG (and What to Do With HEIC)

You're filling in an application form, you pick your photo or a scanned certificate, and the upload box rejects it: "Only JPG/JPEG allowed." The file looks like a normal picture to you. But it's a PNG screenshot, a WebP saved from a website, or an iPhone photo that is secretly a HEIC file.

This guide shows you how to turn PNG and WebP images into JPG in under a minute, what to do with HEIC photos (our converter doesn't read them, so we'll be upfront about that), and the few mistakes that cause blurry or broken results.

Why forms keep asking for JPG

JPG (also written JPEG; they're the same format) has been the default for photos for decades. Almost every website, phone and printer can open it, which is why so many online forms only accept it. The other formats you'll run into each have a reason to exist:

• PNG is lossless and supports transparency. It's great for screenshots, logos and anything with sharp text. But for photos it produces much bigger files.
• WebP is a newer web format that usually makes smaller files than both JPG and PNG and can also hold transparency. Many websites now serve images as WebP, so when you right-click and save a picture, that's often what you get.
• HEIC (HEIF) is what iPhones save photos as by default. Apple says it offers better compression than JPEG, which saves storage, but plenty of websites and older software still can't open it.

How to convert PNG or WebP to JPG with our converter

Our Image Format Converter accepts JPEG, PNG, WebP and GIF files up to 20 MB, and gives you back a PNG, JPEG or WebP.

1. Open the converter and click the upload area, or drag your file onto it. You'll see the file's name and size once it's loaded.
2. Under Convert To, choose JPEG (the option described as "Smaller size, no transparency").
3. Click Convert to JPEG. The button shows "Converting..." while it works.
4. When it says Done, compare the original and converted sizes, then click Download. The file keeps its original name with the new extension, so certificate.png becomes certificate.jpg.
5. To convert another image, just select a new file in the upload area. The previous result is cleared.

A few things to know before you rely on it. There's no quality slider; the converter uses the standard default settings for each format. Your file is uploaded over HTTPS, converted on our server in memory and sent back without being stored, but we'd still suggest not uploading sensitive documents like ID cards to any online converter if you can avoid it. If you upload an animated GIF, you'll usually only get the first frame.

If the form also has a size limit, convert first, then run the JPG through Reduce Image Size, where you type a target in KB and it adjusts JPEG quality to get under it. If the form specifies pixel dimensions, Resize Image handles that part.

What about HEIC photos from an iPhone?

Our converter doesn't accept HEIC files, so you'll need to get a JPG out of your phone or computer first. The good news is that this is usually built in.

• Shoot in JPG from now on. On your iPhone, go to Settings, tap Camera, tap Formats, then choose Most Compatible. Apple's support page says all new photos will then be saved as JPEG. Photos you already took stay HEIC.
• Share the photo instead of copying the file. Apple says that when you send media through AirDrop, Messages or email to a device that doesn't support HEIF, it may be shared in a more compatible format such as JPEG.
• Copy over a USB cable. When you import photos to a computer over USB, Apple says they may be converted to JPEG. This doesn't happen if the Photos setting for transfers is set to Keep Originals.
• On a Mac, open the photo in Preview, choose File > Export, pick JPEG from the Format menu and click Save.
• On Windows, recent versions of Windows 11 can open HEIC files in the Photos app. Older setups may need Microsoft's HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store before the file will even open.

Worked example: how much smaller does a photo get as JPG?

People are often surprised that converting a PNG to JPG can shrink it dramatically. To show real numbers rather than guesses, we took a standard 600 × 400 pixel test photo (the "coffee" sample image that ships with the scikit-image library) and saved it in each format with default settings in Pillow, a widely used Python imaging library:

• PNG: 438.7 KB
• JPEG: 40.6 KB
• WebP: 37.1 KB

The PNG is about 10.8 times bigger than the JPG. Put another way, converting it to JPG cut the file size by roughly 91%. WebP came out about 9% smaller than JPG, which is why websites like it, but it doesn't help you if the form only takes JPG.

Why is the gap so large? A photo's raw pixel data is huge. A 12-megapixel phone photo at 4032 × 3024 pixels has 12,192,768 pixels. At 3 bytes per pixel (red, green, blue), that's 36,578,304 bytes, or about 36.6 MB before compression. JPG throws away fine detail your eye barely notices, so it can get a photo down to a small fraction of that. PNG keeps every pixel exactly, which is perfect for a screenshot of text and wasteful for a photo of your face.

Your own results will differ with the image, its dimensions and the software used, so always check the size shown after conversion.

Mistakes to avoid

• Converting a transparent logo straight to JPG. JPG can't store transparency, so the see-through parts get filled with a solid colour. Depending on the image, that can come out black, which makes dark lettering vanish. Put the logo on a white background first, or keep it as PNG if the form allows it. Our guide to removing image backgrounds covers transparent PNGs in more detail.
• Renaming the file instead of converting it. Changing photo.png to photo.jpg doesn't change what's inside. Some forms check the actual file and will still reject it.
• Not checking the orientation. Phone photos often store their rotation as a separate tag, and the converted file doesn't carry it over. If your photo comes out sideways, rotate it and save again before uploading.
• Converting the same JPG again and again. Each JPG save loses a little detail. Keep your original and convert from it every time you need a new version.
• Assuming conversion fixes the size limit. A converted JPG can still be over the limit. Check the KB and dimension rules on the form. Our post on reducing image size to 100 KB or 200 KB walks through that step.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are JPG and JPEG the same thing?

Yes. They're two spellings of the same format, so a .jpg file and a .jpeg file are the same kind of image. Only the extension in the name differs.

Will converting PNG to JPG reduce quality?

Slightly, because JPG is a lossy format. For photos you usually won't notice. For screenshots with small text or sharp lines, you may see faint smudging around edges, so zoom in and check before you submit.

Can I convert HEIC to JPG with useToolify?

Not with the Image Format Converter. It accepts JPEG, PNG, WebP and GIF. For HEIC, switch your iPhone camera to Most Compatible, share the photo by email, or export it from Preview on a Mac, as described above.

Why is my converted JPG black where the background used to be?

Your original had a transparent background, and JPG can't store transparency. Place the image on a white background before converting, or choose PNG or WebP as the output if the place you're uploading to accepts them.

Will a government or exam portal accept my converted JPG?

We can't promise that, because every portal sets its own rules on format, file size and pixel dimensions. Read the official notification or upload instructions carefully, make sure your file matches all of them, and check the preview after uploading.