But this does mean a JPG does, however, allow you to create a lot smaller file size than you can with a PNG.Īn image file should be converted to a JPG and used in any situation when it’s important to have a small file size. The reason is because the compression is lossy, which means that a certain amount of its unnecessary information is permanently deleted. When an image is converted into a JPG from its original format such as RAW, some quality is compromised. This is why most of the photos you find online are likely in JPG format. Pronounced “jay-peg,” this image file format was designed to help minimize the file size of photographs and make them more suitable for sharing over email and use in web design. In the early days of computers, file types were limited and only had a three-character limit (hence JPG), but these days we see JPEG now becoming more common.
Most of the time you will commonly see JPG expressed as JPEG, but functionally they mean the same thing. The file format commonly known as JPG was developed by Joint Photographics Export Group in 1992, this is where the file name comes from.
