MS Paint: saving .jpg with Strg+S tries to generate a new .png at a random location instead of... SAVING it.

Question

The title basically says it all. Whenever I make a minor change in a *.jpg file and then try to save, Paint tries to save it as *.png at some random location (probably the last location I saved something to) instead of just doing what I tell it to, namely save the original file.

I don't care if png is a better file format, Microsoft's new standard format for pictures or whatever other "user friendly" reason they might pretend to have. Why can't I have the functionality that worked for the last 30 years and have Paint just do what I want and what I tell it, which is to save the original file????

Answer 1

Hi FF, I get why that feels off.

What’s happening is Paint doesn’t keep the original format locked when you open a JPEG, it converts the image internally and defaults to PNG when saving, which is why Ctrl+S triggers a “Save As” instead of overwriting the file. It’s basically treating the file as a new image rather than the original. A quick fix is to use Ctrl+Shift+S and manually select JPEG, or after opening the file, go to File > Save As > JPEG to keep the format. If you want the old behavior, you can try opening the JPEG in Paint and immediately hitting Ctrl+S before making edits, but that’s hit-or-miss in newer versions.

Can you tell me which version of Windows you’re on? That’ll help me check if there’s a setting or registry tweak to restore the classic save behavior.

Kind regards,

Rez