PNG vs JPG vs PDF: Which File Format Should You Use?

Most business professionals are accustomed to using PDFs and JPGs by now, and many have a basic understanding of their optimal use. But the more elusive file type, perhaps, is the PNG format, which stands for Portable Network Graphics. So what is PNG, what’s its best use, and how does it compare with other popular file formats like JPG and PDF?

PNG files represent, as the acronym suggests, a format intended mainly for graphics like logos, text, and pictographic charts. You may also save images such as photographs and screenshots as PNGs. What’s more, PNG files do render photos at a higher quality, with finer detail than JPGs. This is because PNG files haven’t gone through the same compression process as a JPG.

The PNG file was engineered to retain the initial file size of a given image. The benefit to this is that the image retains its original quality after it’s edited and saved without any ostensible image degradation. Upon working with a JPG file, whenever it’s opened and edited, it must be re-saved. This means the image is further recompressed, and this leads to a loss of information.

JPG files first came into wide use because of their ability to be compressed and made smaller, which enabled their ease of use over the Internet. Web-based images don’t require the same amount of digital information, as, say, a large physical print requires to render itself as high-detail.

PNG files shouldn’t be confused with fully uncompressed digital RAW files, however, because they still undergo a compression process. It simply means that PNG files are compressed to a lesser degree than JPG files, which is why many consider the PNG file type to be an upgrade over JPG.

While PNG and JPG files have been optimized for images, it’s regularly neglected that you can utilize the PDF format for the same purposes. The Portable Document Format (PDF) has become almost universally accepted as a means of saving and transferring a variety of file types over the Internet, with the capacity to replicate both text-based documents and converted images with a high level of accuracy.

PDF files differ from PNG and JPG files insofar as they can’t be used for web design. In other words, PDFs aren’t supported if the aim is to upload an image online. PDFs are useful, however, in transferring high-quality replicas of files via email, without having to worry about any advanced formatting issues. An added benefit to this file format is the PDF password protector discoverable in Adobe Acrobat’s viewing and editing tools. This allows the PDF to be password secured, which is extremely useful for sensitive files that are frequently being transferred around via email.

An added benefit to this file format is the PDF password protector discoverable in Adobe Acrobat’s viewing and editing tools. This allows the PDF to be password secured, which is extremely useful for sensitive files that are frequently being transferred around via email. Additionally, many platforms now allow users to sign PDF documents online, streamlining workflows that require secure approvals without the need for printing or scanning.

For those needing to adapt the above-mentioned files for the web use, a commonly-used PDF to PNG converter offers straightforward solutions, seamlessly transitioning PDFs into the web-friendly PNGs, all while preserving the visual quality of the resulting files. Same solution applies to the JPG files: download your PDF and get it in the JPG format within seconds. 

Last year, Google officially announced that it supports several image files referenced in architecture, but PDF, JPG, and PNG are by far the most regularly used. The intent here was to make some key distinctions between these three common formats, namely that PNG is superior to JPG for retaining image quality in web uploads, while PDF, because it’s secure and widely adopted, is better suited for electronically sending a variety of files over the Internet.