JPEG vs PNG vs WebP for marketplace listings
The file format you export in affects sharpness, file size, and — surprisingly often — whether your "white" background is still truly white by the time you upload. Here's which format to use for Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, and how to avoid the compression traps that cause silent rejections.
The three formats at a glance
JPEG (.jpg)
The workhorse for photographs. JPEG uses lossy compression — it throws away detail your eye is unlikely to notice to make the file small. At high quality it's excellent for product photos and is accepted everywhere. Its weakness is flat areas of colour (like a white background), where aggressive compression can introduce faint blocks or banding.
PNG (.png)
Lossless — it preserves every pixel exactly, and it supports transparency. That makes PNG ideal for logos, infographics, and any image with sharp text or a cut-out. The trade-off is much larger files for photographs, with no visible quality gain over a high-quality JPEG.
WebP (.webp)
A modern format that compresses better than both at similar quality, with lossy and lossless modes plus transparency. It's great for your own website's speed, but marketplace upload support is inconsistent — Amazon, eBay, and Etsy generally expect JPEG or PNG for listing images. Keep WebP for the web, convert to JPEG/PNG for marketplaces.
What each marketplace accepts
- Amazon: JPEG (preferred), plus TIFF, PNG, and non-animated GIF. Use JPEG for photos.
- eBay: JPEG and PNG are the safe choices; JPEG for photos.
- Etsy: JPEG and PNG; JPEG for photos, PNG if you need crisp text or transparency.
When in doubt, a high-quality JPEG is the universally safe answer for a product photo.
The silent failure: compression banding on white
Here's the trap that catches Amazon sellers. You get your background to a perfect
255,255,255, then export as a low-quality JPEG to keep the file small. JPEG's compression
works in 8×8 pixel blocks, and on a large flat white area it can leave faint grey blotches or a subtle
checkerboard — pixels that are now 254,255,253 instead of pure white. To your eye it still
looks white; to Amazon's pixel check it's no longer uniform.
Avoid it by: exporting JPEG at high quality (roughly 80–90%), not the minimum; or using PNG for images with large flat backgrounds where file size isn't a concern. Always verify the final, exported file — not the version in your editor — because the artefacts appear during export. Why near-white backgrounds get rejected covers the background side in depth.
Don't re-compress a compressed file
Every time you open a JPEG, edit it, and save again, it's recompressed and loses a little more — this is "generation loss." Keep an original (or a lossless master) and always export your marketplace copy from that, rather than repeatedly re-saving the same JPEG. If you must edit a JPEG, do all your edits in one session and export once.
Colour profile
Export in sRGB. Other profiles (like Adobe RGB) can shift colours or make whites look off when a marketplace or browser doesn't manage the profile correctly. sRGB is the safe, standard choice for anything shown on screen.
Recommended export recipe
- Format: JPEG for photos; PNG for graphics/transparency.
- Quality: 80–90% JPEG — small enough, no visible banding.
- Colour: sRGB.
- Dimensions: hit the marketplace's size target (see Amazon image sizes).
- Verify: re-open the exported file and confirm the white background is still uniform and the edges are clean.
Check your exported photo now →
Frequently asked questions
Is PNG or JPEG better for Amazon?
For photographs, a high-quality JPEG is preferred and smaller. PNG is better only for graphics, infographics, or images with transparency — and those belong on secondary images, not the main photo.
Can I upload WebP to Amazon, eBay, or Etsy?
Support is inconsistent, so don't rely on it. Convert WebP to a high-quality JPEG (or PNG) before uploading a listing image.
Why does my white background look blotchy after saving?
That's JPEG compression breaking up the flat white area. Export at higher quality, or use PNG for images with large flat backgrounds, and always check the exported file rather than the editor preview.
This guide is general information about image formats and marketplace practice; accepted formats and policies can change at any time. Always confirm against each marketplace's official help pages. ListingLint is not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon, eBay, or Etsy.