There are two common image formats: jpeg and png.

When you see an image, you cannot tell whether it's a jpeg or a png file. They look relatively the same. It is in the details where the differences play a part.

JPEG, or 'Joint Photographic Experts Group' is the ultimate image compression used in digital photography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG).

This means that when you take a picture with a digitial camera or cell phone camera, the image will be saved as a jpeg.

This style is best suited for photography.

PNG, or 'Portable Network Graphics' images are used when transferring images on the internet (https://www.hitpaw.com/photo-tips/png-vs-jpg.html) Png images are best used for graphic art designs, like logos, graphs, and charts.

(Jpeg image above - glass of milk next to pile of chocolate chip cookies)

Same image, below, as a PNG:

The top image is shot with a white background.

The image on the bottom is a png image, with a transparent background, which looks white as it is set against this page. of this page.

Only PNG images can display images with a transparent background, JPEG images cannot.

A transparent background of an image looks like this:

(alt tag - gray-scale checkerboard represents a transparent image)

When you see an image with this type of background, the image is 'transparent'.

A transparent image can be used as overlay over different colors, or even over another image.

Text can be created into an image to overlay over a picture to use as a blog post feature image, for example.

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