Is WebP a lighter alternative to PNG for a see-through logo on my website?

What the two options share, and where they differ

Both formats store transparency, so neither will put a white or black box behind your logo. In the tool's logic, a transparent PNG going to WebP never needs flattening, which is why the background color field only appears when you choose JPEG.

The difference is how the pixels are saved. PNG keeps every pixel exactly, with no loss at all. WebP, in this tool, is saved lossily according to the quality slider, meaning it drops fine detail to make the file smaller. On logos that loss, when it shows, tends to appear on sharp edges, thin lines and small lettering.

A size comparison

A logo appears in the header of every page of your store, so trimming it means every visitor downloads less. But do not push the quality too low on a logo: people notice dirty edges on a brand mark far more than on a product photo.

How to test it

1. Add the logo to the Image format converter and choose WebP.
2. Start at quality 90 and study the preview, especially small letters and curved edges.
3. If it looks clean, try 80 and compare. If a halo or specks appear around the edges, go back up.
4. Download the version you are happy with and keep the original PNG in a separate folder.

When to stay with PNG

• When the logo goes to a designer, printer or partner who will edit or print it.
• When it goes into a document or slide deck made in software that may not accept WebP.
• When the logo is small in pixels and the PNG is already light, so any loss is not worth it.
• As the master copy you convert from whenever another format is needed.

If the PNG is heavy because the logo is huge in pixels, shrink the dimensions before worrying about the format. And if your aim is to slim down a file that is already WebP, that is a job for the Image compressor, because the converter leaves a file that is already in the target format untouched.