Image Format Converter

Media Client + Server image convert format png jpg jpeg webp gif svg bmp ico favicon heic tiff avif psd raw

This tool lets you choose: run it client-side in your browser (data never leaves your device), server-side (data is sent to the server), or compare both side by side. Check the mode selector below to see which one is active.

What it does

This tool converts an image from one format to another, including turning images into multi-resolution .ico files (16/32/48/256px) for use as favicons or Windows app icons.

Client-side (💻): for PNG, JPG, WebP, BMP, and GIF (first frame) — everything happens instantly in your browser using the Canvas API. Nothing is uploaded.
Server-side (🖥️): for formats browsers cannot decode/encode natively — HEIC/HEIF, TIFF, AVIF, ICO, and more reliable SVG rasterization — the file is uploaded to the server, converted using sharp (built on libvips) plus a small dedicated encoder/decoder for the .ico container format, and the result is sent back to you. The file is processed in memory and discarded immediately after — it is never written to disk or stored.

The tool automatically detects which mode a given input file needs, and lets you override it manually if you want to compare both.

Try it

Supported formats

Format	As input	As output	Processing
PNG	✅	✅	Client or server
JPG / JPEG	✅	✅	Client or server
WebP	✅	✅	Client or server
BMP	✅	✅	Client or server
GIF	✅	❌ (client)	Client reads first frame only; server can too
SVG	✅	❌	Rasterized as input, more reliably on the server
HEIC / HEIF	✅	✅	Server only — no browser decodes this natively
TIFF	✅	✅	Server only
AVIF	✅	✅	Server only (encoding); some browsers can display it
ICO	✅	✅	Server only — output is a multi-resolution icon (16/32/48/256px)
PSD	❌	❌	Not an image format decoders understand — unsupported everywhere
RAW (CR2/NEF/ARW/DNG)	❌	❌	Requires a dedicated camera-raw decoder — unsupported everywhere

How it works

Client-side path

The chosen file is loaded into an <img> element using the browser's built-in decoder (PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF first frame, BMP, SVG).
It's drawn onto a <canvas>.
The canvas is re-encoded into the target format with canvas.toBlob().

Nothing leaves your device in this path.

Server-side path

The file is read as a base64 data URL and sent to /api/tools/image-format-converter as JSON.
tools/image-format-converter/server.js decodes it into a Buffer. HEIC/HEIF is pre-decoded with heic-convert, and .ico input is decoded with decode-ico (picking the largest embedded frame); both then flow through sharp/libvips for the requested output (PNG, JPEG, WebP, TIFF, AVIF). For .ico output, the source image is resized by sharp into the four standard icon sizes (256, 48, 32, 16px) and packed into a single .ico container by a small built-in encoder (lib/simple-ico-encoder.js) — sharp/libvips can't write the ICO container format itself.
The result is sent back as a base64 data URL and rendered/downloaded exactly like the client-side result.

The server does not persist the uploaded image anywhere — it's held in memory only for the duration of the request.

Notes

PSD and camera RAW formats (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG) are not supported by either path — they need proprietary/dedicated decoders beyond what libvips or browsers provide.
ICO output always bundles four sizes (16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 256×256) into one file, resizing/letterboxing (with transparency) as needed — this matches how Windows favicons/app icons are typically packaged.
Converting a transparent image to JPG/BMP/AVIF-without-alpha fills transparent areas with white.
Animated GIFs: only the first frame is used, on both paths — this tool does not create or preserve animation.
Prefer the client-side path whenever your format is supported there — it's faster and keeps your image entirely private. Use the server-side path only for the formats that genuinely require it.