Image conversion
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There are many different image types available nowadays. To name a few of the more popular ones, these are JPEGs, GIFs, BITMAPs. JPEGs are used for staric images using compression in order to make the file size smaller. They seem to be the most popular used in the web due to the popularity of digital cameras as JPEG is generally the default file format. GIF can be used both for animation and still images. BITMAP files have a .bmp extension and store images with no compression, though they are much larger in size.
Image converter is a software or utility that converts images between formats, performs bitmap to vector conversion and batch conversion (though that's not a full list of featurs as they may vary with different converters).
Converting Images
The important thing to know before converting an image to another format is that there are many and many graphics file formats and graphics software programs capable of converting images. Many of image formats are native to one specific graphic application and are not offered as an export option in other software. Also, be aware that not all image formats are compatible with one another. In general, you can almost always convert between bitmap formats and from vector to bitmap. This is as simple as opening the image in just about any image editor (or image viewer) and choosing the Save As command. You probably already have software that you can use to do this.
If you need to convert between other formats, you can check into the image converters, image editors and image viewers that are listed on this site. There are plenty of freeware and shareware products to choose from, but be sure to check the features list and supported import and export formats to find one that meets your needs.
This is not necessarily "image converter" that should perform image conversion from one format to another. Besides image converter, some other types of software are capable of performing conversion: image viewers, image organizers etc. may perform such option as conversion from some basic image formats to anothers.
Lossy vs lossless image formats
Different image formats use different types of data compression. JPEG format uses wavelet transforms, while bitmap format typically has no compression. Conversion between multiple image formats that engage in lossy data compression can result in rapid image degradation. Master images are best stored in a raw format, while images intended for dissemination may be more usefully stored in a compressed form.