Convert JFIF to PNG

PNG, or just a .jpg?

If a program or website only objects to the .jfif ending, you may not need a PNG at all: a .jpg is the same kind of file with the ending people expect, and it stays small. Renaming and converting to JPG are covered on JFIF to JPG.

PNG makes sense when:

• a form, template or design program asks for PNG specifically,
• you will add text, arrows or shapes, which stay sharper in a PNG,
• you expect to edit and save the picture several times and do not want it to lose detail each time,
• you want a master copy that nothing will degrade.

For a photo you only want to send, a JPG is the lighter file.

There is one more case for PNG: programs whose Open window lists only .png and .jpg files may not show a .jfif at all, so it looks as if the picture is missing. A PNG copy appears in every such list.

What the PNG will look like

The PNG shows exactly what the .jfif showed, pixel for pixel. That cuts both ways:

• Any softness or block patterns from the JPEG compression stay. PNG keeps them faithfully; it cannot remove them.
• No transparency appears. The background of a JPEG is solid pixels, and it stays solid in the PNG, unless you remove the background first.
• The file gets bigger, usually several times bigger for a photo, because PNG stores every pixel exactly where JPEG described them loosely.

Location, camera and date details in the original are not copied into the PNG, and a photo that relied on a rotation tag is saved upright.

To see the size before committing, look under the settings in Export: Octoolo shows the width, the height and about how many KB or MB the PNG will take. If that is more than a form allows, the next section helps.

Getting the shape and size right

Forms that ask for PNG often ask for a shape too, like a square profile picture or a 16:9 banner. The Photo Editor's Crop tool (C) has shapes such as Original, Square 1:1, 4:5 portrait, 3:2, 16:9 and 9:16 story, or no fixed shape at all, with a grid to line things up. Drag the box over the part you want and it keeps the shape you picked. A square of 1080 pixels is a frequent request for profile pictures and posts, and Square plus the 1080 width gives you exactly that from a larger picture.

Then, in Export, the Size list sets the width: the full size, or 3840 down to 512 pixels when the picture is wider, and the W box takes any other. The height follows the shape. Under the list, Octoolo shows the final dimensions and about how big the PNG will be, so you can check a form's limits before you save.

Two ways to get there

The steps above use the Photo Editor, so you can change the picture on the way. For a straight conversion, Convert pictures on the start page is quicker: choose the .jfif, set Format to PNG, and press Save PNG. It shows the original and the PNG side by side with their sizes in pixels and in KB, and takes several at once with the same settings.

Which to use? The Convert tool is the quicker check when you only want the PNG and its file size. The editor is the one when the picture needs a crop, a caption or a lighter look first.

Either way, the PNG gets a new name you confirm in the Windows Save window, and nothing is sent over the internet: Octoolo does all of it on your PC.