Targa (TGA) to JPEG converter

TGA → JPG turns a heavy uncompressed or RLE render into a small file for a chat, forum or portfolio, at the cost of transparency and exact pixels.

Converted with Image engine · input deleted within 24 h
Free: 5 conversions a day · 5 MB each
Higher limits →

From real runs

What you get — and what changes

Element	Result	What happens
File size	Changed	The 1024×1024 RLE diffuse map went from 2,801,531 bytes to 189,026 bytes at quality 90, about 93 percent smaller, in 35 ms.
Pixels	Changed	JPEG compression is lossy: fine noise and sharp texture edges pick up faint blocking that you see when zooming in or tiling the texture.
Alpha channel	Lost	Transparent areas are filled with white by default. The 199×199 sprite became a 6,684-byte JPG on white, or 5,183 bytes on black with background #000000.
All-zero alpha	Changed	A 32-bit TGA whose alpha is zero everywhere keeps its colours in the JPG, because a channel with no information is discarded before the white fill rather than treated as full transparency.
Orientation	Kept	Bottom-up, top-down and right-to-left TGA files all produced upright, correctly mirrored JPGs.
Palette and grayscale	Changed	Colour-mapped and grayscale TGAs are written as three-channel RGB JPEGs; the 256×256 grayscale crate came out at 22,124 bytes.
TGA metadata	Lost	Image-ID text, the extension area and the embedded postage-stamp thumbnail are dropped.

File size Changed
The 1024×1024 RLE diffuse map went from 2,801,531 bytes to 189,026 bytes at quality 90, about 93 percent smaller, in 35 ms.
Pixels Changed
JPEG compression is lossy: fine noise and sharp texture edges pick up faint blocking that you see when zooming in or tiling the texture.
Alpha channel Lost
Transparent areas are filled with white by default. The 199×199 sprite became a 6,684-byte JPG on white, or 5,183 bytes on black with background #000000.
All-zero alpha Changed
A 32-bit TGA whose alpha is zero everywhere keeps its colours in the JPG, because a channel with no information is discarded before the white fill rather than treated as full transparency.
Orientation Kept
Bottom-up, top-down and right-to-left TGA files all produced upright, correctly mirrored JPGs.
Palette and grayscale Changed
Colour-mapped and grayscale TGAs are written as three-channel RGB JPEGs; the 256×256 grayscale crate came out at 22,124 bytes.
TGA metadata Lost
Image-ID text, the extension area and the embedded postage-stamp thumbnail are dropped.

Sample conversions

Character texture for a portfolio

Input: african_head_diffuse.tga, 2,801,531 bytes, 1024×1024, 24-bit RLE.
Output: 189,026-byte JPG in 35 ms at quality 90; 143,699 bytes at quality 80.

Sprite with transparency

Input: rgb32rle.tga, 129,803 bytes, 199×199, 32-bit with feathered alpha.
Output: 6,684-byte JPG with the surround filled white; with {"background":"#000000"} the feathered edge blended into black at 5,183 bytes.

A real Targa (TGA) → JPEG run

We converted our Targa (TGA) sample (237 KB) with Image engine on 2026-10-20. It took 12 ms and produced a 17 KB JPEG file, 93% smaller than the input. The engine raised 2 warnings, listed below.

Input · sample.tga · 237 KB

243,163 bytes

Output · sample.jpg · 17 KB

240 × 300 px, baseline

Width: 240
Height: 300
Encoding: baseline

Transparency filled with #ffffff for JPG output.
Image metadata stripped from output.

Options and when to change them

quality: 90 by default; 80 saved another quarter of the size on the texture with no visible change. Raise it to 95 for renders with smooth gradients that band.
background: Pick the colour the image will sit on. Use black for glow, fire and particle sprites made for additive blending; white makes their soft edges look grey.
width: Set it for forum or chat previews; large renders shrink much further when halved.

Do it yourself

ImageMagick

bash

magick render.tga -background black -flatten -quality 90 render.jpg

-flatten is what applies the background; without it, ImageMagick's handling of alpha in JPEG output depends on the version.

Targa (TGA) to JPEG by API or MCP

The HTTP API and the MCP server run the exact engine this page uses (Image engine); the response carries the same warnings the web converter shows. Check support first with GET /api/v1/pairs?from=tga&to=jpg.

curl

curl -X POST https://filetypeconverters.com/api/v1/convert \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FTC_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@input.tga" -F "from=tga" -F "to=jpg" \
  -F 'options={"width":0}' \
  --output output.jpg

Options this engine accepts for Targa (TGA) → JPEG

Key	Applies to	Type	Default
width	Writing JPEG	number	0
height	Writing JPEG	number	0
fit	Writing JPEG	contain · cover · fill	contain
quality	Writing JPEG	number	90
background	Writing JPEG	string	#ffffff
stripMetadata	Writing JPEG	boolean	true

API reference

When this is the wrong conversion

If you need the transparency, convert TGA → PNG instead; JPG cannot store alpha.
If the file is a normal, height or mask map, use PNG; JPEG artefacts change the values a shader reads.

Targa (TGA) to JPEG questions

Why did the transparent parts of my TGA turn white?

JPG has no alpha channel, so transparent pixels are composited onto the background colour, which defaults to white. Set background to the colour the picture will be shown on.

Which background should I use for a fire or glow sprite?

Black. Those sprites are usually drawn for additive blending, where black adds nothing, so a black fill looks closest to how they appear in the game.

Can I use the JPG as a game texture?

Some engines accept JPG for colour textures, but the compression shows up when the texture tiles or is viewed close. Keep TGA or PNG as the source and let the engine compress it.