Convert JPG to PNG
People convert JPG to PNG expecting a quality improvement. It doesn't happen — the damage from the original JPG encode is already baked into the pixels, and PNG can only preserve it exactly rather than remove it. The real reason to do this conversion is what happens next, not what already happened.
Add a JPG here and it converts straight to PNG — the output is already set on this page. The file will almost always get bigger, because PNG stores every pixel exactly rather than approximating, and any compression damage already in the JPG comes along unchanged. What you gain is a stable base for further edits. Nothing is uploaded.
- Nothing uploadedRuns on your device
- No limitsNo account, no watermark
- No upload waitStarts immediately
Why the file gets bigger, and why that's the point
JPG throws detail away to stay small; PNG keeps everything it's given. Converting from one to the other doesn't add back what the JPG already discarded — it just stops discarding anything further, which is why the file grows rather than shrinks.
That matters for editing. Every time a JPG is opened, changed and saved again, it re-compresses and the damage compounds. Converting to PNG first means the next ten edits cost nothing, at the price of a larger file while you work.
- Expect the file to grow, often by several times, not shrink
- Do this before a round of edits, not as a way to fix a JPG that already looks bad
- If the goal is a smaller file rather than an editing base, this is the wrong conversion
Nothing is uploaded to convert it
The conversion runs on your own device. Your image is decoded and re-encoded in the browser tab and the result is written back — no copy of it, at any stage, is ever sent anywhere.
You can confirm it: open the Network tab before you start, or disconnect from the internet once the page has loaded and convert anyway. The only thing that needs a connection is the first load of the page itself.
Questions
- Will converting to PNG improve the quality?
- No — this is the most common misunderstanding about this conversion. PNG preserves whatever it's given exactly, including whatever compression artefacts the JPG already has. The damage happened at the original JPG encode and can't be undone by converting afterwards.
- Why did my file get bigger?
- Because PNG is lossless and JPG is not. Going from a format that approximates to one that stores every pixel exactly almost always grows the file — often several times over — regardless of what the image contains.
- When does this conversion actually help?
- Before a round of edits. Once a photo is PNG, repeated saves during editing no longer compound compression damage the way repeated JPG saves would. It's a base to work from, not a fix for a JPG that already looks poor.
- Is my photo uploaded to convert it?
- No. Everything happens in your browser, including the encode itself — you can verify it in the Network tab or by going offline once the page has loaded.
- Is there a better option if I just want a smaller file?
- Yes — stay on JPG, or convert to WebP, which is smaller than JPG at the same visual quality. PNG is the right choice for editing, not for shrinking a file.
Converting a different way
Or use Convert Image directly if you'd rather choose the output format yourself.