You download an image, try to open it, and the file is sitting there with a .webp extension that your software doesn't recognize. Or you're building a website and someone tells you to use WebP — but you're not sure what it actually is or whether it's worth the hassle.
Here's the plain-English version.
WebP is an image format developed by Google. It was released in 2010 and designed specifically to make web images load faster by producing smaller file sizes than JPG and PNG at comparable quality. The name is a portmanteau — "Web" plus "P" for picture.
The technical approach is sophisticated: WebP uses a compression algorithm derived from the VP8 video codec, which Google also developed. The result is that WebP images are typically 25–35% smaller than JPG at the same visual quality, and significantly smaller than lossless PNG for photos. For websites serving millions of images, that's a meaningful difference in bandwidth and load time.
WebP also supports transparency (like PNG) and animation (like GIF), making it a more versatile format than either of those. It handles both lossy and lossless compression, so you can use it for photographs and for graphics that need pixel-perfect accuracy.
Primarily websites. Google has pushed WebP adoption heavily, and most major platforms now serve WebP images automatically. When you right-click and save an image from Google Images, YouTube, or many large news sites, there's a good chance it saves as a .webp file — which is sometimes why people end up confused about the format.
Web developers use WebP to speed up page load times, which affects both user experience and search engine rankings. Google's own performance metrics (Core Web Vitals) reward fast-loading images, so the incentive to use the format is built directly into how sites are ranked.
It depends on what software you're using. Browser support is excellent — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari (since 2020) all handle WebP natively. The places you're more likely to run into problems are desktop image editors and viewers that haven't been updated recently.
| App / Platform | WebP Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari | Full | Native support in all modern browsers |
| Windows Photos | Yes | Supported on Windows 10/11 |
| Mac Preview | Yes | Supported on macOS Big Sur and later |
| Photoshop | Yes | Native support added in 2021 |
| GIMP | Yes | Supported since version 2.10 |
| Older image software | Often no | Pre-2020 versions may not support it |
| Some email clients | Varies | Gmail and Outlook web handle it; desktop clients vary |
If you're running into an older app that can't open WebP, the straightforward fix is to convert the file to JPG or PNG first.
It depends on what you're doing with the file.
If you just need to open it, view it, or share it with someone who might have older software, JPG is the right choice. It's universally compatible and the file size is reasonable for photos. There will be some minor quality loss from the conversion, but for most use cases it's not noticeable.
If the image has a transparent background — a logo, product photo, or graphic — convert to PNG to preserve the transparency. JPG doesn't support transparent backgrounds, so anything clear in the original WebP will become a solid (usually white) background in JPG.
Yes, if you can. WebP is now supported by all major browsers, and the file size savings are real — typically 25–35% smaller than JPG for photos, and often 50%+ smaller than PNG for graphics with transparency. Smaller images mean faster page loads, which directly affects both user experience and how Google ranks your site.
The main friction is that some image editing workflows still don't handle WebP natively, so there can be extra steps involved. If your website runs on WordPress, most caching and image optimization plugins can handle the conversion automatically. For static sites, batch converting your images to WebP before uploading is a quick one-time task.
Our full comparison of JPG, PNG, and WebP covers this in more detail if you want the complete picture.
Drop your WebP files in and download JPG or PNG instantly. Batch conversion supported. Nothing is uploaded anywhere — it all runs in your browser.
Open Image ConverterWebP is Google's image format for the web. It's smaller than JPG and PNG at comparable quality, supports transparency and animation, and is now supported by all major browsers and most modern software. If you can't open a WebP file, your best option is to convert it to JPG (for photos) or PNG (for graphics with transparency). If you're building a website, WebP is worth using — the performance benefits are real and the compatibility concerns are mostly resolved.