Should screenshots full of text and tables become JPG, WebP, or stay PNG?
If nothing forces a change, keep them as PNG: it holds text perfectly sharp. If size is a problem, try WebP at a high quality such as 90, which usually keeps text clean at a smaller size. Choose JPG only when wherever you are sending it demands JPG, and raise the quality when you do.
Why a screenshot is not a photo
A photograph is full of soft gradients and fine noise, so when compression drops a little of it you do not notice. A screenshot is the opposite: a flat white background, black letters with hard edges, table lines a single pixel wide. JPEG compresses in small blocks of pixels and leaves a faint haze, like dust, around every sharp edge. On a screenshot of an invoice or a price table that shows clearly when zoomed in, and can make small figures harder to read.
The three options, honestly
- PNG: lossless. Text stays exactly as it is, and screenshots in particular compress well as PNG because their colors are few and flat.
- WebP: lossy at the chosen quality in this tool, but it usually handles hard edges better than JPEG. At quality 90 text generally stays clean at a smaller size than PNG.
- JPG: lossy too, and the worst of the three with text. But it is accepted almost everywhere, so you may have to use it.
A 341.8 KB PNG screenshot of an orders table converted to WebP at quality 90 came out at 205.1 KB.
The file's row reads: 40% smaller than the original.
These numbers only illustrate the reading; yours will differ, and the preview is the judge.
Try all three on one sample
- Add a screenshot typical of yours to the Image format converter, ideally one with the smallest font you use.
- Choose WebP at quality 90, zoom into the preview and look around small letters and table lines.
- Switch to JPEG at the same quality and compare. Changing the format reconverts automatically, so you see the difference straight away.
- Compare each size with the original PNG, then decide.
When JPG is imposed on you
Some forms and platforms take nothing but JPG. Then raise the quality to 95 or more; the size difference between 90 and 95 matters less than legible figures. If the screenshot has transparent areas, such as a cut-out piece of an app screen, pick white or the app's own background color. And do not convert the JPG back to PNG afterwards hoping to fix it: the haze around the letters is kept exactly as it is.
If you need a much smaller screenshot, reducing its dimensions saves more than lowering quality, but make sure the text is still readable after shrinking.
Common questions
Why did my screenshot get bigger as a JPG?
It happens, because PNG compresses flat colors very efficiently. The tool shows the real percentage; if the file grew, keep the PNG.
Does the tool keep the screenshot's resolution?
Yes. The pixel dimensions stay the same in every format.