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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.

Pro2 min read

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 → General → 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.