Free webp to jpg
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Image MIME Reference
PNG

Portable Network Graphics (Legacy MIME)

image/x-png
VS

WebP Image

image/webp
WebP

A complete technical comparison of Portable Network Graphics (Legacy MIME) and WebP Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature PNG WebP
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support ✕ No Yes
Progressive Loading Yes ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
Portable Network Graphics (Legacy MIME)
image/x-png
Extension
.png
Container PNG Chunk Structure (IHDR, IDAT, IEND)
Compression Deflate (Lossless)
Algorithm
Deflate (LZ77)
Color Depth 1-bit to 16-bit (Grayscale), 8-bit (Indexed Palette), 24-bit (True Color), 32-bit (True Color with Alpha), 48-bit (High Color), 64-bit (High Color with Alpha)
Developed by PNG Development Group
Released 1996
Magic Bytes
89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A
Full PNG reference →
WebP Image
image/webp
Extension
.webp
Container RIFF
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
VP8VP8L
Color Depth 8-bit
Developed by Google
Released 2010
Magic Bytes
52 49 46 46 XX XX XX XX 57 45 42 50
Full WebP reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser PNG WebP
Chrome Chrome
✓ 1
✓ 32+
Firefox Firefox
✓ 1
✓ 65+
Safari Safari
✓ 1
✓ 14+
Edge Edge
✓ 12
✓ 18+
IE IE (Legacy)
✓
 ✕
PNG

PNG Strengths

  • The underlying format provides flawless, lossless compression and perfect 8-bit alpha channel transparency
  • Universally supported by every modern operating system, image editor, and web browser
Limitations
  • The 'image/x-png' string is an obsolete vendor quirk that forces backend developers to write redundant normalization logic in file upload scripts
  • If left unnormalized, strict MIME validators or content security policies on modern systems may incorrectly reject valid PNG files
WebP

WebP Strengths

  • Superior lossy compression — 25–35% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality
  • Supports both animation and full alpha transparency
  • Lossless mode available with smaller file sizes than PNG
Limitations
  • Slower encoding than JPEG, especially for lossless
  • Not supported in Internet Explorer or very old browsers

When to choose which format

PNG
Use PNG when…
  • Legacy Internet Explorer File Uploads
  • Older ASP/PHP Web Applications
  • Lossless Web Graphics
WebP
Use WebP when…
  • Websites
  • Ecommerce
  • Mobile Apps
  • CMS Images

More comparisons

PNG vs ACES → WebP vs ACES → PNG vs APNG → WebP vs APNG → PNG vs AVCI → WebP vs AVCI → PNG vs AVCS → WebP vs AVCS → PNG vs AVIF → WebP vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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