JPEG vs PNG vs WebP vs AVIF: Which Format to Export After Upscaling

You have just upscaled an image and it looks great at 100%. The format you save it in decides whether it stays that way. A careless export can bring back the blocky artifacts you just removed, or produce a file five times larger than it needs to be. Here is how the four formats you are most likely to use compare, and which to choose for each job.

The short answer

• Master copy: PNG (or lossless WebP if you need smaller files).
• Print lab or print shop: high-quality JPEG, or TIFF/PNG if they accept it.
• Your own website: AVIF or WebP, with JPEG as a fallback if needed.
• Marketplaces and social media: high-quality JPEG, unless the platform recommends otherwise.
• Artwork, logos, screenshots, anything with text: PNG or lossless WebP.

The rest of this article explains why.

Lossy vs lossless

The most important distinction:

• Lossless formats store every pixel exactly. Re-opening and re-saving never degrades the image. Files are larger.
• Lossy formats discard detail the eye is less likely to notice, producing much smaller files. Every lossy save throws away a little more, and heavy compression creates visible artifacts.

Upscaled images are usually much larger than their sources (a 4× upscale has 16 times the pixels), so file size matters. But lossy compression attacks exactly the fine edges and textures an upscaler worked to create, so quality settings matter too.

JPEG

The format everything supports, standardised in 1992.

• Compression: lossy only. Works in 8×8 pixel blocks, which is where blocky artifacts come from.
• Transparency: no.
• Colour depth: 8 bits per channel in the version everyone uses, which can show banding in smooth gradients.
• Chroma subsampling: most encoders store colour at lower resolution than brightness by default (4:2:0). That is invisible in most photos but blurs fine coloured edges, such as red text on a white background.

Use it for: photos sent to print labs, marketplaces and anywhere compatibility is the priority. Export at quality 85–92 for delivery. Avoid it for line art, screenshots and text, where ringing artifacts around edges are obvious.

PNG

Lossless and universally supported.

• Compression: lossless. Excellent for flat colour, poor for photographic detail.
• Transparency: full alpha channel.
• Colour depth: 8 or 16 bits per channel.
• File size: a large upscaled photo as PNG can easily be several times the size of a good JPEG.

Use it for: your master copy, illustrations, anime art, logos, screenshots, and anything you will edit again. See our guide to upscaling anime and illustration for why lossless matters so much there.

WebP

Developed by Google and supported in all current major browsers.

• Compression: both lossy and lossless modes. Lossy WebP is typically smaller than a JPEG of similar visual quality; lossless WebP is typically smaller than the equivalent PNG.
• Transparency: yes, in both lossy and lossless modes.
• Colour depth: 8 bits per channel. Lossy WebP always uses 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
• Size limit: a maximum of 16,383 pixels on each side, which large 4× upscales can exceed.
• Compatibility: excellent in browsers; patchier in older desktop software, print workflows and some upload forms.

Use it for: website images, especially when you need transparency with a small file. Lossless WebP is a good PNG replacement for web artwork.

AVIF

Based on the AV1 video codec, and supported in current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.

• Compression: lossy and lossless. Lossy AVIF is often noticeably smaller than WebP and JPEG at similar visual quality, especially at lower bit rates.
• Transparency: yes.
• Colour depth: 8, 10 or 12 bits per channel, plus HDR support. Higher bit depth reduces banding in gradients.
• Encoding speed: much slower to encode than JPEG or WebP, which matters for large images and batch jobs.
• Character: at low quality settings, AVIF tends to smooth away fine texture rather than produce blocks. That looks clean but can erase the detail an upscaler added, so do not push quality too low.
• Compatibility: good in browsers; still limited in many desktop apps, print services and marketplaces.

Use it for: website images where you want the smallest files, with a fallback for older software.

Side-by-side comparison

	JPEG	PNG	WebP	AVIF
Lossy	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Lossless	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Transparency	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Max bit depth	8-bit	16-bit	8-bit	12-bit
HDR	No	No	No	Yes
Browser support	Universal	Universal	All current	All current
Print/marketplace support	Universal	Very wide	Mixed	Limited
Encode speed	Fast	Moderate	Fast	Slow

Recommended settings

These are reasonable starting points; always compare at 100% zoom.

# JPEG for delivery (ImageMagick)
magick upscaled.png -quality 88 -sampling-factor 4:2:0 -strip out.jpg

# Lossy WebP for the web
cwebp -q 80 upscaled.png -o out.webp

# Lossless WebP for artwork
cwebp -lossless upscaled.png -o out-lossless.webp

# AVIF for the web (libavif)
avifenc -q 60 upscaled.png out.avif

For images with fine coloured detail or text, try -sampling-factor 4:4:4 on JPEG to keep colour edges crisp, at the cost of a larger file.

Serving modern formats on a website

If you run your own site, you do not have to choose just one. The HTML <picture> element lets the browser pick the best format it supports:

<picture>
  <source srcset="product.avif" type="image/avif" />
  <source srcset="product.webp" type="image/webp" />
  <img src="product.jpg" alt="Leather tote bag, front view" width="2000" height="2000" />
</picture>

Always set width and height so the page does not jump while images load.

Avoid generation loss

Every lossy save compounds damage. A good workflow:

1. Upscale and edit, saving a lossless master (PNG or lossless WebP).
2. Export each delivery format from the master, never from another lossy file.
3. Never re-upscale a heavily compressed JPEG output; go back to the master.

Which to pick, by destination

Destination	Format	Notes
Archive / master	PNG	Lossless, editable, universally readable
Photo print	JPEG q90+ or TIFF	sRGB unless the lab says otherwise
Marketplace listing	JPEG q85–90	See product photo guide
Website photo	AVIF or WebP	JPEG fallback via <picture>
Website artwork with transparency	Lossless WebP or PNG
Social media	JPEG	Platforms recompress anyway

Summary

Save a lossless master, then export for the destination: JPEG for compatibility, PNG for artwork and editing, WebP and AVIF for fast websites. Keep quality settings high enough that compression does not undo the detail you just recovered.

IncreaseAI is being built to export upscaled images as PNG, JPEG or WebP, with AVIF under consideration. To get the most out of the upscale itself, start with how to increase image resolution without losing quality.