JPG to BMP Converter

JPG (also written JPEG, from the Joint Photographic Experts Group that created it in 1992) is the most widely used photo format in the world. Phones, cameras, websites, email and social networks all handle it.

JPG uses lossy compression: it discards fine detail your eye barely notices, which makes photos 5-10 times smaller than an uncompressed copy. The trade-off is that every re-save loses a little more detail, and it can't store a transparent background.

Every device opens JPG files out of the box: Photos on Windows and Mac, the Photos or Gallery app on iPhone and Android, and any web browser. To edit one, use Photoshop, GIMP, Canva or the free tools on ConvertPixels.

BMP (bitmap) is Microsoft's original Windows image format. It stores pixels with little or no compression, so it's simple and lossless but very large - a 12-megapixel photo can top 35 MB.

BMP is mainly found in older Windows software, some industrial and embedded systems, and scanner output. For almost every other use, PNG gives the same quality at a fraction of the size.

Windows Photos and Paint open BMP files, as does Mac Preview. Most browsers can display them too. Convert to PNG for a lossless copy that's much smaller, or JPG for photos.