Formats and quality

Thirteen formats to save to, each with what it is for. If you are not sure: JPG for photos to send, PNG for screenshots and logos, AVIF or WebP to save space.

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Which format

Format	For	Good to know
JPG	Photos that must open everywhere.	Every app, phone and website takes it. No transparency.
PNG	Screenshots, logos, graphics, anything see-through.	No loss at all; large for photos.
WebP	Pictures for the web.	About a third smaller than a JPG that looks the same, transparency kept; Lossless for graphics. Up to 16 383 pixels a side.
PDF	Pictures to send or print as pages.	One file with a page each, or a file each — options.
AVIF	The smallest files.	About 40 % smaller than a JPG that looks the same, and still clean much lower down; 10 bits a channel, so skies have no steps. Windows shows it with its free AV1 Video Extension.
JPEG XL	Small and sharp, quick to write.	About a third smaller than JPG; lossless for graphics. Photoshop, Lightroom and Apple's devices open it; Windows only with the JPEG XL Image Extension (Windows 11 24H2 and later). Cobalt Photo always.
HEIC	As an iPhone saves photos.	Offered when Windows can write it: with Microsoft's HEVC Video Extensions from the Store.
GIF	Old places that take nothing else.	256 colours at most.
TIFF	Print and archives.	Without loss; compression LZW, ZIP or none.
BMP	Old programs.	The pixels as they are, uncompressed.
ICO	Windows icons.	Several sizes in one file — options.
JPEG XR	HDR pictures.	Rare; quality 100 is without loss.
TGA	Games and video.	As game engines and video tools take it.

Cobalt Photo opens 43 formats and saves these 13: what it opens but does not save — RAW, Photoshop, SVG and the rest — it converts to one of them.

Quality

Each format that loses something to be small has a quality from 1 to 100: lower is smaller. The numbers are not the same from one format to another — each has its own scale, and Convert says under the number what matches a JPG at 85, which looks the same as the original:

Format	Looks like a JPG at 85
JPG	85 — as it comes, set in Settings → Converter → JPG quality
WebP	75
AVIF	65 — and at 55, about a third of a JPG's size, softer but without blocks
JPEG XL	85

Each format's own options

PDFOne file with a page for each picture, or a file each. Page size: as the picture, A4 or Letter.

ICOThe icon sizes to put in the file, from 16 to 256 pixels; each drawn from the picture, sharp at its own size.

Size, for every formatOriginal, a long side, a percent or exact — Size.

WebP has Smaller or Lossless — every pixel as it is, about a quarter smaller than a PNG, for graphics, screenshots and logos. TIFF has LZW, ZIP or no compression; all three keep every pixel.