PixFlow · Conversion
An image format buys you either compatibility or small file size, rarely both. Picking the right one avoids most problems outright. Every conversion runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Make it readable everywhere
The most requested conversion. Fixes Windows and Android incompatibility.
→When you need a lossless format for editing afterwards.
→For software and platforms that still refuse WebP.
→Keeps transparency, unlike a conversion to JPG.
→AVIF is very recent, and plenty of tools still cannot open it.
→Lossless alternative, transparency preserved.
→The right move when a PNG holds a photograph and weighs far too much.
→Make it lighter for the web
Roughly 25 to 35 percent lighter at comparable quality.
→Large gains on screenshots, transparency kept intact.
→The most efficient format available today, if your visitors run modern browsers.
→For illustrations and graphics with large flat colour areas.
→Build a document
One photo, one document. Handy for supporting paperwork.
→Bundle scans or photographed pages into a single file.
→There is no best format in the abstract, only a format suited to each job. Here is what actually separates the five common ones.
| Format | Strengths | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|
| JPG | Readable everywhere, light on photographs. | You need transparency or perfectly crisp text. |
| PNG | Lossless, transparency, sharp text. | The image is a photograph — the file size explodes for nothing. |
| WebP | 25 to 35 percent lighter than JPG, lossy or lossless, transparency. | You must deliver to older software or a closed platform. |
| AVIF | The most efficient on size, handles transparency. | Compatibility comes first — support outside browsers is still thin. |
| HEIC | Very efficient, native on iPhone. | You leave the Apple ecosystem. Convert it every time. |
This is the most widespread misunderstanding: converting does not improve an image. If your JPG was compressed too hard and shows artefacts, converting it to PNG produces a heavier file containing exactly those same artefacts. The format is a container; it does not recreate lost information.
Likewise, enlarging does not invent detail, and moving from one lossy format to another adds a generation of degradation. Always start from the file closest to the original source.
Converting to JPG removes transparency: transparent areas turn white. If you need it, target PNG or WebP instead.
Conventional online converters upload your files to their servers. For a holiday snapshot that hardly matters. For a scanned ID, a contract or a bank statement, it is a data transfer nothing justifies.
PixFlow converts locally, using the Canvas API and WebAssembly. Nothing to upload, so no wait tied to your connection speed; no volume limit imposed by a server; and documents that never leave your machine. Once the page has loaded, conversion works offline.
No. A conversion cannot restore information that is already gone. Converting a heavily compressed JPG to PNG gives you a much larger file containing exactly the same flaws. Conversion changes the container, not the content: it serves compatibility or file size, never repair.
HEIC has been the default iPhone format since iOS 11. Windows cannot read it without a paid extension from the Microsoft Store, and many websites reject it on upload. Converting to JPG solves this permanently, since JPG is readable by every operating system and virtually every application.
It is lost. JPG has no alpha channel, so transparent areas turn white. If you need to keep transparency, convert to PNG or WebP instead — both support it.
No. Conversion happens entirely in your browser through the Canvas API and WebAssembly. No file leaves your device and nothing is stored. That matters most for scanned documents and personal photographs.