WebP is Google's image format. It came out in 2010, it stores the same picture in meaningfully fewer bytes than JPEG or PNG, and since about 2020 every browser that matters can display it.
None of which explains why you are here, which is probably that you right clicked an image, saved it, and got a .webp file that your editor will not open.
That is not a bug and you did not do anything wrong. Here is what happened, and what to do about it.
Why your download turned into a .webp
Every request your browser makes says which formats it can handle. Modern browsers say they accept WebP. Modern sites check that and serve WebP, because a smaller file means a faster page, and page speed is something everyone is being graded on.
So the image on that page was never a JPEG. When you saved it, you saved the file the server actually sent.
I measured a concrete case while writing a different article. A YouTube thumbnail stored as JPEG came to 65 KB. The same frame, from the same servers, in WebP: 28.6 KB. Roughly 56% smaller for something that looks identical on screen.
Google's own WebP documentation claims 25 to 34% smaller than comparable JPEG and about 26% smaller than PNG. My one measurement came in higher than that, which is a reminder that a single file is not a benchmark. The direction is what is consistent.
How to open a WebP file
Try opening it before you convert it. This list is longer than most people expect:
- Any browser. Drag the file onto a tab. Guaranteed to work.
- Windows 10 and 11. The Photos app reads WebP out of the box.
- Current macOS. Preview opens them. Older macOS versions do not, which is where a lot of the confusion comes from.
- Photoshop 23.2 and later. Native support since early 2022. Before that you needed a plugin.
- Figma, Canva, GIMP, Affinity. All fine on current versions.
What still refuses: older Photoshop, some print shop uploaders, a lot of internal enterprise tools, most things from before 2021, and any workflow with a hard-coded list of allowed extensions.
WebP to JPG, or WebP to PNG?
One question decides it: does the image have a transparent background?
Yes, or it has text and hard edges. Go to WebP to PNG. PNG is lossless, so nothing degrades, and it keeps the alpha channel. The file will be larger, sometimes a lot larger.
No, it is a photograph. Go to WebP to JPG. Smallest file, opens in absolutely everything, and the second compression pass is invisible at 90% or above.
The trap in the second option is worth stating plainly. JPEG has no alpha channel at all. Convert a transparent WebP to JPG and the transparent areas fill in, usually with white. If your logo suddenly has a white box behind it, that is what happened.
Going the other way, to make your own images smaller
If you run a site, the conversion worth doing is the opposite one.
JPG to WebP for photographs, PNG to WebP for graphics and screenshots. The PNG case is where the savings get silly: a UI screenshot that is 900 KB as a PNG regularly lands under 200 KB as a lossless WebP with no visible change at all.
Two things to know before you convert your whole media folder:
Keep the originals. WebP is a delivery format. Your archive should stay in whatever lossless thing you started with.
Do not convert twice. A JPEG converted to WebP has been through two lossy encoders. It is usually fine, but going from your original export beats going from an already-compressed copy.
The bulk question, answered honestly
Our converter handles one file at a time. That is not an oversight, it is what happens when the work runs on your device instead of ours: several large images decoded onto a canvas at once is how a phone tab quietly runs out of memory and dies with no error at all.
So, matched to the size of the job:
One to ten files. Use the converter. Each one takes a couple of seconds and there is nothing to install or sign into.
Ten to a hundred. Still workable one at a time if you are already at your desk, but this is the point where a desktop tool starts paying for itself.
Hundreds, or a repeating job. Use ImageMagick or XnConvert. One command over a folder, no browser involved:
magick mogrify -format jpg *.webp
That is the genuinely correct answer and there is no reason to pretend otherwise to keep you on our page. What we are good at is the file you have open right now.
Resizing a WebP
We do not have a resizer yet. It is on the list, and until it ships the honest answer is that a converter is not one.
In the meantime: Preview on macOS resizes in two clicks, Windows Photos has a Resize option in its menu, and any browser-based image editor handles it. Convert first if the resizer will not accept WebP, then resize the JPG or PNG.
The lossless setting nobody explains
Our quality control offers 50, 75, 90 and 100. For WebP, 100 is not just "the highest quality". Browser WebP encoders switch into a genuinely lossless mode at maximum, so a WebP at 100% is bit-for-bit faithful rather than merely very good.
That gives WebP a property JPEG does not have at any setting: it can be a lossless format when you need it to be, and a small lossy one when you do not. PNG has no lossy mode and JPEG has no lossless one. WebP is the only one of the three that does both.
Which is a decent one-line summary of why it exists.
When WebP is the wrong choice
Being fair to the format means being clear about where it loses:
- Handing a file to a client, a printer, or anyone over about 50. Send a JPG. Compatibility beats efficiency when the file leaves your control.
- A platform upload form. Most accept WebP now, but not all, and finding out after the fact wastes more time than converting would have.
- Archiving. Keep the lossless original. Store WebP as a delivery copy, not as the master.
- Anything going into an old CMS or a legacy internal tool. If the system is more than a few years old, assume it has an extension allow-list.
Everywhere else, on a web page you control, it is the better file.
Frequently asked questions
What is a WebP file?
An image format Google released in 2010 to replace JPEG and PNG on the web. It does lossy and lossless compression, transparency and animation, and stores the same image in fewer bytes than either format it replaces. Every major browser has supported it since 2020.
Why are my downloaded images WebP now?
Your browser tells sites it accepts WebP and modern sites serve it, because smaller files mean faster pages. Saving the image saves what the site sent. Nothing on your machine changed.
How do I open a WebP file?
Photos on Windows 10 and 11, Preview on current macOS, and Photoshop since 23.2 all open them natively. So does any browser if you drag the file into a tab. Software that refuses is usually a few years behind, and converting is faster than updating it.
Should I convert WebP to JPG or to PNG?
Does converting WebP to JPG lose quality?
A little, because you are stacking a second lossy pass on an already compressed image. At 90% or 100% it is not visible on a photograph. Converting to PNG avoids the second pass entirely, at the cost of a much bigger file.
Can I convert a folder of WebP files at once?
Not here. Everything runs on your own device, and decoding several large images at once is how a phone tab runs out of memory. For a few files, one after another is quick. For hundreds, magick mogrify -format jpg *.webp is the right tool.
Is WebP better than JPEG?
For delivering images on a page you control, usually yes, by a wide margin at matched visual quality. For handing a file to someone else, JPEG still wins because it opens in everything. Choose by destination, not by release date.
Can I convert an animated WebP?
Not usefully in a browser. A canvas has one frame, so you get the first frame as a still image. For animated WebP, use ffmpeg or a dedicated GIF tool.
WebP is not a problem to be solved, it is a delivery format doing its job. The only time it becomes your problem is when a file crosses from the web into software that has not caught up, and that is a ten second fix.
WebP to JPG Converter
Drop the .webp in, pick your quality, get a JPG that opens in anything. It runs in your tab, so the file never leaves your machine.
