JPG vs PNG vs PDF: Which Format Should You Send?

By the PaperKit team, Friends Empire Corp · Last updated: October 25, 2026

Send photos as JPG, graphics with sharp lines or transparency as PNG, and multi-page documents as PDF. The right choice depends on what the file contains and what the recipient will do with it. This guide compares all three formats and shows how to combine JPG or PNG images into one PDF.

The short answer

Photos go as JPG. Graphics go as PNG. Documents go as PDF. A photo of a person or a landscape compresses well as a JPG. A logo, screenshot or diagram with sharp lines and flat colours stays crisp as a PNG. A contract, application, report or set of scanned pages belongs in a PDF, which holds many pages in one file with the layout fixed.

Most everyday confusion comes from sending a document as a photo, or a photo as a document. Both work, but each costs something: a photo of a ten-page form is ten separate files that can arrive out of order, while a PDF of a single holiday photo is needlessly formal for a quick message.

JPG: best for photos

JPG is built for photographs. It shrinks photo files dramatically by discarding detail the eye barely notices, which is why a phone photo that starts out several megabytes can travel as a few hundred kilobytes. That compression is also its weakness: sharp edges, text and flat colours come out soft or surrounded by faint artefacts, and saving a JPG again and again loses a little more detail each time.

Send a JPG when someone just needs to look at a picture: a photo in a message, a single page shared for a quick read, or an image for slides. Do not send a JPG when the file must print sharply or be read as an official document.

PNG: best for graphics and transparency

PNG keeps every pixel exactly, which makes it the right choice for logos, screenshots, diagrams, charts and any graphic with sharp lines or text. It also supports transparency, so a logo can sit on any background without a white box around it. The trade-off is size: a PNG photo is usually much larger than the same photo as a JPG, because PNG does not use the same lossy compression.

Send a PNG when crisp edges matter more than file size: a logo for a designer, a screenshot showing an error message, or a diagram where fine labels must stay readable.

PDF: best for documents

PDF is a document format, not an image format. One PDF can hold many pages, keep fonts and layout exactly as designed, and print identically on any device. That is why forms, contracts, CVs, certificates and scanned page sets are sent as PDFs: the recipient gets one file, in the right order, that looks the same everywhere.

A PDF also has a size advantage for documents. A scanned ten-page form as ten JPGs is ten attachments to lose track of; as one PDF it is a single file. Note that a scanned PDF is still pictures of pages inside a document wrapper, so its sharpness depends on the quality of the original scans.

Which format should you send?

If you are sending...	Send...	Why
A photo for a quick look	JPG	Small file, looks fine on a screen
A logo, screenshot or diagram	PNG	Sharp lines, no compression artefacts, transparency if needed
A form, contract or multi-page file	PDF	One file, fixed layout, prints exactly
Scanned pages or phone photos of a document	PDF	Pages stay together in reading order

Turning JPG and PNG images into one PDF

Open the free JPG to PDF tool in your browser.
Add your JPG and PNG images in the order you want them to appear.
Choose A4 or fit-to-page, and zero-margin if you want edge-to-edge pages.
Download the single PDF and check the page order before sending it.

The tool accepts both JPG and PNG, so a mixed set of photos and screenshots becomes one document without converting anything by hand first. If you later create several PDFs that belong together, join them with Merge PDF.

What about email size limits?

File size still matters, whatever the format. As a verified reference, Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo all cap attachments at 25 MB, while iCloud caps them at 20 MB. A PNG-heavy set of images or a scan-heavy PDF can cross those limits quickly. If your PDF is too large to send, check the size guide in the cluster and consider compressing it or splitting it before sending.

Try it free: JPG to PDF

Free, no account needed, and your files are processed in your browser — never uploaded.

Open JPG to PDF →

Try it free: PDF to JPG

Free, no account needed, and your files are processed in your browser — never uploaded.

Open PDF to JPG →

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between JPG, PNG and PDF?

JPG compresses photos into small files but loses a little detail each time it is saved. PNG keeps sharp lines and supports transparency but makes larger files. PDF is a document format that holds many pages with exact layout for reading and printing.

When should I send a JPG instead of a PDF?

Send a JPG for a single photo or image that someone will view quickly on a phone, in a message or on social media. For documents with several pages, or files that must print cleanly, a PDF is the better choice.

When is PNG the right format?

Choose PNG for logos, screenshots, diagrams and graphics with sharp lines or transparent backgrounds, where JPG compression would blur edges or add artefacts around text.

Can I combine JPG and PNG images into one PDF?

Yes. The JPG to PDF tool accepts both JPG and PNG images and combines them into a single PDF, with A4 and zero-margin options for a clean result.

Does converting images to PDF reduce their quality?

No, the tool places your images into a PDF without recompressing them into a different format. Very large photos will still make a large PDF, so check the file size before sending it by email.