Image

Not sure which tool?

These fall into three groups. Changing the file — convert between PNG, JPG and WebP, compress, resize, crop, combine, split, or turn HEIC and TIFF into something that opens everywhere. Getting something out of a picture — read its text with OCR, pull its colour palette, pick a single colour, read or strip its EXIF, decode a QR code. Making a picture — favicons, code screenshots, memes, GIFs from a sequence, handwriting, watermarks.

Which format to save as, briefly: PNG keeps every pixel exactly and supports transparency, so it is right for logos, screenshots and anything with sharp edges or text. JPG throws detail away to get small, which is right for photographs and wrong for screenshots — text goes fuzzy at the edges. WebP is usually smaller than either at the same quality and keeps transparency, which is why it is the default answer for the web now.

Worth knowing: photos carry more than the photo. A picture from a phone usually holds the time it was taken and often where — the EXIF viewer shows both, and removes them. Anything you are about to post publicly is worth passing through it first.