You might need a page as an image for a slide, a social post, a website or a chat message. All three common formats work, but each has a sweet spot.
JPG for photos and scans
JPG uses lossy compression that is excellent for photographs and scanned pages. Files are small, but sharp edges such as text and line art can pick up faint smudges, especially at lower quality settings.
PNG for text and diagrams
PNG is lossless, so text, charts and screenshots stay perfectly crisp. Files are larger than JPG for photo-heavy pages, but for typical document pages the difference is often small.
WebP for the web
WebP usually produces smaller files than JPG or PNG at similar quality, and every current browser supports it. It is a good default for images you will put on a website.
Resolution matters more than format
- On-screen use: around 150 DPI is plenty.
- Print or zooming in: 300 DPI.
- Higher than 300 DPI mostly makes files bigger without visible gain.