Which image format is best for website design?

Image formats commonly used on websites are JPG, PNG and GIF. Some other formats are used too, but less often. Each format suits a different purpose and feature set, which gets the best result for your site and affects page load speed and website SEO. In today’s article, MONA Media will help you learn about the image formats and how to use them to best effect on your website.

Image formats used on websites

GIF, SVG, JPG, JPEG or PNG and WebP are the image formats used most on websites. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each helps you choose the right one for your site. Here is a closer look at the common image formats from MONA:

GIF

GIF is an image format that isn’t used very often on the web, yet it catches the viewer’s eye. GIFs can be compressed to small sizes and keep color well. Some GIFs are even smaller than a JPG.

GIF is fairly outdated for large images. Today it is chosen for icons and small animations. So if you need small animated images or short, low-resolution video clips, GIF is the one to pick.

The one drawback of GIF is its limited color range. For today’s colorful images, GIF can’t keep up.

SVG

Image formats SVG is not widely used. These images are written in XML code and can be resized.

SVG files are created by developers using JavaScript or CSS to write them. Because the image size is flexible, quality doesn’t change when it is viewed on different devices. This format is also light, looks good and doesn’t use up resources on the site.

However, creating SVG images takes a professional, and complex images cannot be drawn in SVG at all. Older browsers also do not support this format. Think carefully before choosing it for your website images.

JPG

JPG is one of the most widely used standard image formats today. Most images you find on the internet are JPG. High sharpness, easy compression, many pixels and a wide range of colors are the main strengths of the JPG format.

JPEG

JPEG is also a JPG file format. It is widely used for the web and for print because it is easy to edit and compresses images without a noticeable loss in quality.

Both JPEG and JPG are supported by every browser and email client, and can display millions of colors. The drawback is that this format does not support transparent backgrounds, which makes it less readable than PNG.

PNG image format

PNG is a short form of the English name: Portable Network Graphics and is one of the most popular image formats today. PNG was first created to replace the aging GIF. Over time, thanks to technical improvements such as lossless compression, transparent backgrounds and support for millions of colors, PNG became the most widely chosen image format for websites.

With PNG files, you can easily place an icon, logo or other information on top of an image and get a polished look. According to current website statistics, PNG is the most used image format.

WebP

WEBP is an image format that has become popular for websites in recent years. WebP images usually offer high quality, good sharpness and fast loading, and do not need much bandwidth.

Google now also favors websites that use WebP images. WebP works well in all major browsers, offers strong security and better copyright protection than other formats, so it is rated very highly.

However, WebP takes longer to decode, so it is still less common than JPG or PNG. Even so, foreign websites have recently been using WebP more and more.

AVIF format

is one of the most widely used image formats in recent years, AVIF and it is increasingly rated highly by search engines and chosen by SEOers. In detail, AVIF is an open image file format based on the AV1 video compression standard, considered to compress better than both PNG and JPEG. It is also supported by many browsers and web platforms such as Google Search, WordPress, Cloudflare and Joomla.

However, like other image formats, AVIF has some drawbacks to weigh before you use it: limited compatibility, and image decompression that can be slower than traditional formats because of its advanced compression algorithm.

Why do image formats matter for your website?

Images are, in a sense, your online graphics. Every website uses images to show products, articles and services. They help improve the results of top 1 SEO services and earn more trust from Google. Choosing the right format for each display purpose gives you better quality.

In detail, here is why the image format you use on your website matters so much:

Displaying high-quality images

A website with images optimized for quality, polished content, sharp pictures and a clear logo is rated more highly for content quality by both search engines and users. That makes it easier to keep readers on the page and build the site's credibility.

Page load speed

Images usually take up a large share of a website's size. As the number of images grows, the loading speed of the site suffers. The result is slow page loads and a seriously worse user experience.

So besides learning which image format is best for your website, you also need to know how to convert image formats when needed, to optimize the images on your site.

You can also look into lazy loading so your website keeps all its images while still loading quickly, without making users lose patience and leave.

-> See how to speed up your website:

• 10 effective ways to speed up a WordPress website
• What is Google PageSpeed Insights? How to improve your PageSpeed Insights score
• How to check your website speed

Image scalability

Some formats can reduce file size but the image dimensions shrink too. Others reduce file size while the image quality stays the same. That is why choosing the right image format for your website matters so much.

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Which image format should you use on your website?

Usually, The two most chosen image formats are PNG and JPG. Depending on the case, administrators, content writers and SEOers use one of the two:

• For logos, banners and slogans you will need to edit often, and above all keep the image quality high. These images act as brand ambassadors that promote your products and services to the market. PNG is usually the format chosen for them.
• Product images usually need high quality and sharpness, and must be edited to look perfect. PNG also supports shooting, editing and publishing high-quality photos better.
• For images inside articles, image quality usually does not need to be very high. To keep articles loading fast, most websites choose JPG with a file size of < 100KB.

GIF is also used in some places on a web page to look better and encourage action. GIF is not as common as PNG or JPG, but it is an important element on every website.

PNG vs JPG

As we analyzed above, PNG is rated higher and used more. JPG, however, still gives fairly good image quality at a small file size. Let's look at these two formats in more depth with MONA.

PNG image format

PNG image format provides from 24-bit color, even up to 64-bit, so it displays excellent color for web images. It can be compressed to a small size while the image still looks good to the naked eye. It also supports transparent backgrounds, so you can add a copyright mark, text and a logo on top of the image.

JPG images

JPG can be compressed too, but the file size does not drop much compared with the original. Compared with PNG, JPG serves fewer purposes on the web.

Should you use PNG or JPG for your website?

To answer this question, consider these two factors:

• When compressed, PNG loses no data. Even at a much smaller size, the quality is no worse than the original. 
• PNG images can have transparent backgrounds and many color points, which gives vivid color. 

JPG cannot match PNG on these two points, so for the best result MONA still recommends PNG image files for your website.

Above is the detailed information on the most common image formats today, with a summary of the pros and cons of each so you can make the most sensible choice. We hope this article from MONA helps you pick image formats that suit your website, improve user experience and earn higher ratings from search engines. Good luck!

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