JPG format explained: when to use it, when to convert

What JPG is

JPEG is the 1992 photo standard that still carries most of the world's photographs. It compresses by discarding detail the eye is least likely to notice, which is why a 12-megapixel photo fits in two or three megabytes. The trade-off is that every re-save loses a little more; a JPG is never a master copy.

JPG and JPEG are the same thing. The three-letter extension dates from Windows systems that only allowed three characters; ConvertX writes .jpg and reads both.

Use JPG when

• Photos that will be viewed, shared or uploaded where the receiver might not support WebP or AVIF.
• Attachments with size limits, where a Balanced compression keeps the picture and drops the bulk.
• Anything that must open on an old device, a TV, a kiosk or a printer.

Avoid JPG when

• Logos, screenshots, line art and text: edges smear and get blocky. Use PNG.
• Images that need a transparent background. JPG has no alpha channel.
• Files you will edit again and again. Each save compounds the loss; keep a PNG or TIFF master.

How ConvertX handles JPG

• Reads .jpg and .jpeg on every platform; writes JPG from any supported input.
• Rotation is always corrected from the EXIF orientation tag, so sideways phone photos come out upright.
• Camera details and GPS location are removed by default; "Keep photo details" copies them into the new JPG.
• In the compressor, JPG is lossy by nature, so the "Exact quality" mode leaves it untouched unless you resize it.

Extensions: .jpg, .jpeg. Metadata: can carry EXIF when "Keep photo details" is on.

Need the file smaller rather than in another format? See compress JPG.