PNG files get big fast. A full-screen screenshot can run several megabytes, a scanned document even more, and suddenly an email bounces, a web form complains about a size limit, or a listing site rejects your photo. JPEG exists for exactly this problem. It compresses photographic and screenshot-style images down to a fraction of their PNG size, and it is accepted by effectively every website, app, and device on earth.
The trade-off is that JPEG is lossy — it shrinks files by discarding detail your eye is unlikely to miss. Convertmaxxing gives you a quality slider so you control that trade directly. The default of 85 is a sensible middle ground: files typically shrink dramatically while photos and screenshots still look clean. Drop toward 70 when size matters most, or push above 90 when you want the output nearly indistinguishable from the source. For images with sharp text or hard edges, higher settings help keep them crisp.
There is one PNG feature JPEG simply does not have: transparency. If your PNG has a transparent background, the see-through areas get flattened onto a solid backdrop during conversion, because the JPEG format has no concept of an alpha channel. For photos and screenshots this never matters. For logos and cutout graphics that must keep a clear background, stick with PNG or convert to WebP instead.
Everything happens on your own computer. Convertmaxxing does the conversion in your browser with WebAssembly, so the image is never uploaded anywhere — there is no server on the other end, no account, and no waiting on a slow connection to push a 20 MB screenshot into the cloud. You can also choose to strip metadata from the output, which is worth doing before posting an image publicly.
Why convert PNG to JPEG?
- Cut file size dramatically — screenshots and photos that were megabytes as PNG become a fraction of that as JPEG
- Meet upload limits on email, forms, marketplaces, and CMSs that reject oversized files
- A quality slider (default 85) lets you pick your own balance between size and sharpness
- JPEG is accepted everywhere, including legacy systems that are picky about formats
- Conversion is free and runs locally in your browser — no upload, no signup
How it works
- Step 1
Drop your files
Drag your PNG files into the converter above, or click “Choose files”. Batches are welcome.
- Step 2
Pick your settings
JPEG is preselected. Adjust quality or size if you want, or keep the defaults.
- Step 3
Convert and download
Conversion runs locally in your browser. Download files individually or grab everything as a zip.
Frequently asked questions
- Do my files leave my computer during conversion?
- No. The entire conversion runs inside your browser using WebAssembly — there is no upload step at all. Your PNG is opened locally, re-encoded locally, and the JPEG is saved straight back to your device. The only download involved is the conversion engine itself, fetched once and cached by your browser.
- What happens to the transparent background in my PNG?
- JPEG has no alpha channel, so transparent regions are flattened onto a solid background in the output. If your image relies on transparency — a logo, an icon, a cutout — JPEG is the wrong target format; keep it as PNG or use WebP instead.
- What quality setting should I use?
- The default of 85 works well for most images. Use 90–95 if the picture will be viewed large or printed, and 70–80 when you are chasing the smallest possible file for email or web upload. Below about 60, blocky artifacts start showing up around edges and text.
- Can I convert the JPEG back to PNG later and undo the compression?
- You can convert back, but the detail JPEG discarded is permanently gone — converting to PNG afterward just stores the compressed result losslessly. If you might need the original again, keep the source PNG rather than relying on a round trip.
- Is metadata carried over to the JPEG?
- You decide. PNGs can carry text metadata and embedded info, and the converter lets you optionally strip metadata during conversion. Stripping is a good habit for images you plan to share publicly.