Use Spatie Browsershot to render HTML in headless Chrome, then explicitly select JPEG output before saving the image. Browsershot accepts either an HTML string or a URL; it is a PHP interface to Puppeteer and Chrome, not a pure-PHP HTML renderer.
What you need to convert HTML to JPG
HTML is a document description, not an image. To turn it into a JPG, your application first needs a browser engine to lay out the markup, apply CSS, and render the page. Browsershot provides the PHP interface for that browser-rendering step; Chrome produces the rendered page and the screenshot is encoded as JPEG.
That distinction matters when choosing a deployment environment. PHP alone is not enough: the server must be able to run the PHP package and the Node/Puppeteer/headless Chrome components required by the Browsershot setup you install. Check those runtime requirements against your hosting provider before building the feature around it; no particular host or deployment configuration is guaranteed by the package documentation.
Check the installed package requirements
Packagist lists Browsershot 5.4.0, released on May 26, 2026, with PHP ^8.2, ext-fileinfo, ext-json, spatie/temporary-directory ^2.0, and symfony/process ^6.0|^7.0|^8.0. Package requirements can change, so use the metadata for the version you actually install rather than treating those constraints as permanent.
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Install the package in your project with Composer, then follow the current Browsershot setup instructions for the Node and browser runtime that match your system. A successful Composer installation alone does not prove Chrome is available or executable by the PHP process.
Convert an HTML string to a JPG
This example renders a self-contained HTML string at a 1200-by-800 browser viewport and saves a JPEG beside the PHP script. The quality value of 90 is an illustrative choice; Spatie’s image documentation demonstrates JPEG output with a quality setting of 100, not a universal best setting.
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use SpatieBrowsershotBrowsershot;
$html = <<<'HTML'
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Example card</title>
<style>
body { font: 18px Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0; padding: 32px; }
.card { background: #eef3ff; border-radius: 12px; padding: 24px; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<article class="card">
<h1>Hello from PHP</h1>
<p>This HTML is rendered in a browser before it becomes a JPG.</p>
</article>
</body>
</html>
HTML;
Browsershot::html($html)
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 90)
->windowSize(1200, 800)
->save(__DIR__ . '/output.jpg');The code uses setScreenshotType('jpeg', 90) deliberately. Browsershot’s documented screenshot output defaults to PNG, so a .jpg filename by itself is not enough to request JPEG encoding. The output directory must also exist and be writable by the PHP process.
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Render a webpage URL instead
When the source is a live webpage, pass its address to Browsershot::url() rather than downloading markup yourself. The rest of the JPEG configuration is the same:
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require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use SpatieBrowsershotBrowsershot;
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 90)
->windowSize(1200, 800)
->save(__DIR__ . '/page.jpg');This asks the browser to visit the page, so the result depends on the page loading successfully in the server’s browser environment. Pages that rely on JavaScript, remote stylesheets, fonts, or images need those resources to be reachable and load correctly at capture time. For site-specific waiting, authentication, or rendering behavior, check the Browsershot usage documentation for the options supported by the version you use.
Convert a local HTML file
For a local file, one straightforward option is to read its contents and give the string to Browsershot:
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<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use SpatieBrowsershotBrowsershot;
$html = file_get_contents(__DIR__ . '/page.html');
if ($html === false) {
throw new RuntimeException('Could not read page.html');
}
Browsershot::html($html)
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 90)
->windowSize(1200, 800)
->save(__DIR__ . '/page.jpg');If the file refers to CSS, images, or fonts using relative paths, ensure those resources resolve from the rendered document. A practical fix is to use absolute URLs for assets or include the CSS and markup needed for the capture. A local HTML file that depends on its original directory structure may not look the same when its contents are rendered without that context.
Choose the capture size and region
The browser viewport controls the page layout, so set it to the dimensions your output needs. A narrow viewport can trigger mobile CSS; a wider one may select a desktop layout. The dimensions in windowSize(1200, 800) set a 1200-by-800 browser window, but that does not mean an entire long page will fit into an 800-pixel-tall image.
For a full-page capture, a clipped region, or a single element, use the corresponding Browsershot image options documented in Spatie’s image-creation guide. Full-page capture is useful for a long article or dashboard; clipping is useful when only a known part of the rendered page belongs in the image; element selection avoids capturing unrelated page content. Check the option names and behavior in the documentation for your installed version before adding one to production code.
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The image guide also documents base64 output when the image needs to be returned or embedded rather than written directly to a file. JPEG is lossy, so text-heavy pages, sharp interface borders, and small type may look less crisp than a lossless format. If JPEG is required, compare the resulting file and legibility at the dimensions you actually use instead of assuming the example quality value is ideal.
Or skip the browser setup
For a webpage URL, ScreenshotNeo provides a screenshot API and MCP server. Its API accepts a URL in one GET request and can return PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. For example, this cURL request saves a JPEG-compatible WebP only if asked for WebP; as written it uses the service’s default response format, so specify the format required by your workflow in the request according to the ScreenshotNeo API documentation.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot"
-d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY
--data-urlencode url=https://example.com
-o shot.webpScreenshotNeo accepts and removes cookie or consent banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; each cleanup step can be turned off. Bot checks and CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and responses include X-Page-Verdict and X-Billed headers. Its MCP server offers take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for AI agents and MCP clients. It can also render HTML/CSS to an image, but the example above is for a URL-based request.
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Security and deployment considerations
If an application accepts HTML or URLs from users, validate those inputs before passing them to Browsershot. Spatie explicitly places responsibility for validating supplied HTML and URLs on the user. Browser rendering of untrusted input should be treated as a security-sensitive operation; validation is necessary, but the cited package documentation is not a complete security-hardening guide.
Also verify that your production PHP process can access the browser runtime, write to the destination directory, and reach any remote resources used by the page. Local development success does not establish that a restricted host has the same runtime or network access. The current package requirements can be checked on Packagist’s spatie/browsershot page.
Troubleshooting HTML-to-JPG conversion
- The saved file is PNG or will not open as JPG: explicitly call
setScreenshotType('jpeg', quality). Browsershot documents PNG as the default screenshot type, regardless of the filename extension. - Browsershot cannot start Chrome or Puppeteer: confirm the Node/Puppeteer/Chrome components required by the installed setup are present and available to the PHP process. Composer dependencies by themselves are not a browser runtime.
- The image is blank or missing remote assets: check that the target URL and its CSS, image, font, or script resources can load from the server. For local HTML, replace unresolved relative asset paths with paths that are valid in the rendering context.
- The image is cropped or the layout is unexpectedly narrow: adjust the viewport dimensions to match the intended responsive layout. For long pages or selected regions, use the documented full-page or clipping options rather than expecting a short viewport to include all content.
- The output cannot be written: check that the output directory exists and is writable by the user running PHP, and that the output path is correct.
- The page differs from what a person sees: inspect whether it depends on scripts or external resources that have not finished loading or are inaccessible in the server environment. Use Browsershot’s documented options for the installed version to adjust capture behavior.
Why PHP GD is not a substitute for browser rendering
PHP’s GD extension provides image creation and manipulation functions, including output functions such as imagepng. The PHP manual does not describe GD as a renderer for arbitrary HTML and CSS. Use a browser-based tool such as Browsershot to turn a webpage into pixels; use GD for image operations after you have an image, when those operations suit your use case. See the PHP GD documentation for the extension’s image functions.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can a JPG keep a transparent background?
No. JPEG does not support transparency. If the rendered content needs transparent pixels, choose an image format that supports transparency instead of JPEG.
Quick Recap
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