Which image format should you use? Here is how JPEG, PNG, HEIC, WebP, GIF and TIFF compare on compression, transparency and animation — a single citable reference.
⬇ Download JSON dataset| Format | Compression | Transparency | Animation | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG .jpg / .jpeg | Lossy | No | No | Photographs and web images where small file size matters most. |
| PNG .png | Lossless | Yes (alpha) | No | Logos, icons, screenshots and any graphic that needs transparency or crisp edges. |
| HEIC / HEIF .heic | Lossy or lossless | Yes | No | iPhone photos — about half the size of JPEG at similar quality (limited older-device support). |
| WebP .webp | Lossy or lossless | Yes | Yes | Modern web images — can replace JPEG, PNG and GIF, but not supported everywhere. |
| GIF .gif | Lossless (256 colours) | Yes (1-bit) | Yes | Short simple animations; poor for photographs due to the 256-colour limit. |
| TIFF .tif / .tiff | Lossless or lossy | Yes | No | Printing, archiving and professional photography where maximum quality matters. |
| PDF | Varies (can embed any) | N/A | No | Multi-page documents and scans; not an image format but the usual target for scanned photos. |
Rule of thumb: JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics/transparency, HEIC for iPhone storage, WebP for modern web, TIFF for print/archive. Converting between formats re-compresses the image — keep an original if you can.
Whatever the format, a blurry or low-resolution photo is still blurry. Unblurry sharpens and upscales JPEG, PNG, HEIC and WebP photos entirely on-device — a one-time purchase, no ads, no subscription.
Get Unblurry on the App Store →Image & video resolutions → · More open datasets →
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 — attribution (a link back to this page) is all that is required. Copy the citation below:
Lumi Apps (2026-07-10). Image file formats compared. CC BY 4.0. https://alice51849.github.io/ios-app-guide/data/image-file-formats.html
Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. You may reuse it freely — please credit “Lumi Apps (https://alice51849.github.io/ios-app-guide)”. Machine-readable copy: image-file-formats.json.