What Is a Transparent PNG? (And How to Keep It That Way)
A transparent PNG lets the background show through parts of an image — essential for logos and overlays. Here's how it works and how not to lose it.
How transparency works
A normal image stores red, green, and blue for every pixel. A transparent PNG adds a fourth channel — alpha — that records how see-through each pixel is, with 256 levels from fully solid to fully invisible. That's why a PNG logo can sit cleanly on any colour background, with smooth, soft edges instead of an ugly rectangle.
Why JPG ruins transparency
JPG has no alpha channel at all. The moment you convert a transparent PNG to JPG, every transparent pixel must be filled with a solid colour — usually white. There's no way around it; it's a fundamental limitation of the format.
If you need transparency, your output must be PNG or WebP — never JPG. The converter above lets you pick the fill colour when you do convert a transparent image to JPG, so at least the background matches where you'll place it.
Keeping transparency intact
To preserve transparency, convert between formats that support it: PNG to PNG, PNG to WebP, or WebP to PNG. Avoid round-tripping through JPG at any point, because once transparency is flattened to a solid colour, it can't be recovered.