Convert images: settings and best results

What does Convert images do?

Convert images changes pictures from one format to another, on your own computer. Turn iPhone HEIC photos into JPG, make small WebP or AVIF files for a website, or save a PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP or ICO icon. On a Mac you can also save HEIC. In the app the tool is called Image Convert.

Image Convert also opens camera RAW files (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW and DNG) and SVG drawings. It gives back one new file for each image you add, and can make large images smaller and remove hidden photo details on the way.

01Step 1: Add your images

Click Tools in the sidebar, open the Image tab and click Image Convert in the Convert section. You can also type "convert" in the search box at the top.

Drop your images on the queue, or click it to pick files. Image Convert takes JPG (including .jfif files), PNG, WebP, AVIF, HEIC, HEIF, TIFF, GIF and BMP photos, ICO icons, TGA, QOI, DDS and Netpbm (PPM, PGM, PBM, PAM, PNM) images, SVG drawings and RAW files from your camera. To convert a folder of images, open it, select all the images and drop them together. Use Add more to add files later.

123456

1. 1Add more
2. 2Convert to
3. 3Quality
4. 4Resize large images
5. 5Strip metadata
6. 6Run convert

04Step 4: Run, then check the result

The line above the button shows how many images you are converting, their total size and the new format. Check where the files will go: Default output folder saves them in your workspace’s output folder, in a convert folder with a subfolder for today’s date, such as 10-15. Click Change to pick another folder for this run. Then click Run convert.

When the run ends, each file shows Done and the panel sums up the run. Click View on a file to compare it with the original, and Open folder to go to the new files. Each one keeps its name and gets the new extension, for example juniper-shopfront.webp. See See and compare your results and Where your files are saved.

1234

1. 1Done
2. 2View
3. 3Saved to
4. 4Open folder

Every setting, and when to change it

Convert to

The format of the new files.

• RangeJPEG, WebP, AVIF, HEIC (Mac only), PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP, ICO
• DefaultWebP

Quality

How much detail JPEG, WebP, AVIF and HEIC keep. Lower means a smaller file and a softer picture. Has no effect on the other formats.

• Range1 to 100
• Default80

Resize large images

Makes images smaller when their longest side is bigger than the limit below. It never makes an image bigger.

• DefaultOff

Longest edge (px, 64–20000)

The longest side an image may have when Resize large images is on.

• Range64 to 20,000 pixels
• Default2560

Strip metadata

Leaves hidden details such as the camera, date and GPS location out of the new file.

• DefaultOn

How do I get the best results?

• Photos for a website: pick WebP at Quality 75 to 85 and turn on Resize large images at 2560 or lower.
• Smallest photos: try AVIF. It often makes the smallest files of the three lossy formats.
• Photos to send to anyone: pick JPEG. Every phone, computer and app opens it.
• Logos and screenshots: pick PNG, or WebP if the file must be small. Lossy formats can blur sharp text and edges at low Quality.
• Keep your source files. Converting a JPEG to PNG does not bring back detail the JPEG already lost. Start from the best original you have.

HEIC, RAW, SVG and other special files

• HEIC and HEIF photos from an iPhone convert like any other photo. JPEG is the safest choice to share them. On a Mac you can also go the other way and save any image as HEIC.
• RAW files from your camera: Hangar uses the full-size picture your camera saved inside the RAW file when there is one, so colors look like the camera’s own preview. If there is none, Hangar develops the RAW with neutral settings. For full control over color and exposure, edit the RAW in your photo editor first.
• JFIF files are ordinary JPEG photos with a .jfif name, which some browsers give images you save from the web. They convert like any JPEG.
• Icon, game and graphics files (ICO, TGA, QOI, DDS and Netpbm files such as PPM) convert like any other image, and keep their transparent areas when you pick PNG, WebP or AVIF. Tools that keep the original format, such as Compress and Resize, cannot save these files, so convert them to PNG or JPEG first. DDS game textures open only when they use the common DXT1, DXT3 or DXT5 compression.
• SVG drawings are turned into pixels at their own size, made at least 1,024 and at most 8,192 pixels on the longest side. Turn on Resize large images to get a smaller picture.

Animated GIF and WebP

Convert an animated GIF to WebP, or an animated WebP to GIF, and it stays animated. Hangar keeps every frame, how long each one shows, and how many times the animation loops. A WebP animation is often several times smaller than the same GIF.

• Quality applies to every frame of a WebP animation. It has no effect on GIF.
• Resize large images makes every frame smaller by the same amount.
• Animations are saved without hidden photo details, even when Strip metadata is off.
• GIF has no partly see-through pixels. Each pixel is either fully see-through or fully solid, so soft edges can look rough after converting a WebP to GIF.
• Pick any other format and you get a still image of the first frame. The panel tells you when this happens.

Why does a result look wrong?

• The file is bigger than the original. PNG, TIFF and BMP keep every pixel, so they are large for photos. Image Convert always saves the format you chose; it never keeps the original instead. Pick WebP, AVIF or JPEG, or shrink the result with Compress images.
• The picture looks soft or blocky. Raise Quality. Lower values make smaller files with more visible smudges, most of all on text and sharp edges.
• A transparent background turned solid. JPEG and BMP cannot store transparency. Pick PNG, WebP or AVIF.
• A GIF lost its colors. GIF holds only 256 colors. Use PNG or WebP for photos.
• An animation became a still image. Only GIF and WebP keep animation. Pick one of them under Convert to.
• An animation failed as too large. Very long or very large animations need too much memory. Turn on Resize large images, or shorten the animation first.
• A JPEG photo from a phone or camera comes out sideways. Image Convert does not turn photos upright by their rotation setting. Run Rotate & flip first with Auto-fix orientation on, then convert the result.
• A file failed with a message that Hangar couldn’t read it. The file may be damaged or not really an image. Open it in another app and save it again. For other errors, see A file failed: what to check.

Limits

• Image Convert writes JPEG, WebP, AVIF, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP and ICO, plus HEIC on a Mac. It reads RAW, SVG, TGA, QOI, DDS and Netpbm files but cannot save in those formats.
• Animations stay animated only when saved as GIF or WebP. Very long or very large animations cannot be converted.
• ICO icons are at most 256 pixels on their longest side.
• SVG drawings are made between 1,024 and 8,192 pixels on their longest side.
• Add image files, not folders.
• Everything runs on your computer. Nothing is uploaded.

Use Image Convert in a chain

Convert is available as a step in chains, under the Image steps, with the same settings as the tool. The starter chain Social export resizes each image and then converts it.

Put Convert last when you change to WebP, AVIF or JPEG, and run steps such as Resize before it, so each image is saved once in its final format. Resize, Rotate / Flip and Watermark steps cannot open AVIF files, so never put them after a Convert to AVIF. To run the same chain on new files each week, see Run a chain on many files.