If you’ve ever struggled to save a file as JPEG or PNG in Photoshop, you’re not alone. It’s frustrating when a simple export becomes a hassle, but the good news is that it’s usually easy to fix.

1 Start by Restarting Photoshop and Checking for Updates

Sometimes, a glitch prevents you from saving your Photoshop files as JPEG or PNG. Restarting the app is the easiest way to fix this.

To quit photoshop, go to Photoshop at the top of your screen, and select Quit Photoshop. If the app isn’t responding, try force-quitting.

If quitting Photoshop didn’t work, checking for an update might be a better option. The update might have addressed the glitch.

1. Open the Adobe Creative Cloud app on your computer.
2. Select Updates on the right-hand side.
3. Click on Check for Updates.
4. Update your Photoshop software if an option to do so appears.

2 Reset Your Photoshop Preferences

Your Photoshop preferences might be causing a problem and preventing the image from saving. The easy fix here is to reset your preferences. Adding them again later will be time-consuming, but the effort is worthwhile to get your save settings working as they should.

Follow these steps to reset your Photoshop preferences:

1. Navigate to Photoshop at the top of your screen and expand the dropdown menu.
2. Select Settings > General.
3. Click on Reset Preferences at Quit. Then, close and reopen the app to reset your preferences to default.
4. After resetting your Photoshop preferences, try saving your files in JPEG and PNG again.

3 Change the Image Resolution

Photoshop may struggle to save your files in the desired format if the size is too big. This will likely impact you the most when you work with RAW, PSD, or PNG.

Here’s how to change your image resolution in Photoshop:

1. Go to Image in the top toolbar.
2. Click on Image Size after expanding the dropdown menu.
3. Change your file dimensions.

Make sure that your image is still high-quality enough for its intention. For example, you’ll need something bigger if you’re working with prints than you would when sharing your images on social media. I recommend around 70 pixels per inch for most images online. If you’re selling your art online, something closer to 300 pixels per inch is better in most cases.

4 Change the Color Mode

Your file’s color mode significantly affects the exported file by including additional information. For example, the Multichannel color mode is designed for specialized printing and has more data than a PNG file. This is one of the most common Photoshop errors.

Use the RGB Color Mode to be sure that you can save your files as JPEG/PNG. To do that, navigate to Image > Mode and tick RGB Color. Your changes should take effect immediately.

5 Check the Bit Channel

The bit-depth value shows how much data is stored on every color channel, determining the image quality. However, if the value is too high, your image might be too big for Photoshop to save. You should keep your bit-depth to 8-16 Bits/channel. Some JPEG files can support 32-bit color, but using them may lead to file size issues.

Switching between different bit-depth values as you’re working on a design will slightly change your image, so it’s better to choose the right bit-depth value at the start of the project. To adjust this, go back to Image > Mode and select 8 Bits/Channel or 16 Bits/Channel.

6 Try Using Quick Export

While it’s nice to use Save As or Export As and make more comprehensive adjustments, you can always use Quick Export if neither work. You can change your Quick Export settings to save as JPEG or PNG. Here’s how to do that:

1. Go to the Photoshop tab and select Settings > Export.
2. Under Quick Export Format, choose between JPEG, PNG, or GIF.
3. Select OK.

After changing your Quick Export settings, go to File and hover your cursor over Export. Now select Quick Export as PNG (or JPEG) and export your image.

7 Try Saving Via Keyboard Shortcuts

If you can’t use the normal save function, try utilizing keyboard shortcuts instead.

1. Press Ctrl/Shift/S (Windows) or Command/Shift/S (Mac). The save pop-up window will appear.
2. Choose JPEG or PNG from the Format dropdown menu.
3. Select Save.

8 Save the File as a PSD First

Newer Photoshop versions will not let you save as JPEG or PNG if you haven’t saved as PSD first. This is Photoshop’s way of making sure you’re not losing the editable file in case your computer suddenly shuts down or something else happens.

You can use keyboard shortcuts to save your file as PSD. Follow the same steps in the previous section, but pick PSD instead of JPEG/PNG. Try then re-importing your file and saving it in those formats.

9 Save it in Another Format and Convert it

If nothing has worked so far, you can try saving your file in a different format and then converting it to JPEG on your computer. I recommend using TIFF, but these steps also worked for me when I converted a PSD image. The instructions below are for Mac, but you can add image conversion to Windows 11’s context menu, too.

Here’s what you need to do on a Mac:

1. Go to the directory where you saved your file.
2. Press Control and your trackpad on the .tif file and select Quick Actions > Convert Image.
3. Choose JPEG or PNG from the Format dropdown menu.

Not being able to save your files as JPEG or PNG in Photoshop is incredibly frustrating, but thankfully, you can try several things to fix this issue. Some are more complex, whereas others require just a simple reset. In many instances, your pictures won’t save in these formats when they’re too big; you can fix this problem by reducing your file size.