What Is a WebP File? How to Open It and Save It as JPG or PNG

WebP is an image format created by Google and released in 2010. It was designed to make web pages faster by shrinking images. One format can do lossy compression like JPG, lossless compression like PNG, transparency, and animation like GIF.

Google reports that WebP images are about 25 to 35 percent smaller than comparable JPGs. Because of that, most large websites now serve WebP automatically, which is why saved images so often come out in this format.

A site can send WebP to browsers that support it and JPG to others, using the same address. When you save the picture, your browser stores whatever it received, so you get a .webp even though the page 'looked like' a normal photo.

Nothing is wrong with the file. It is just newer than much of the software you may use.

Every current browser opens WebP: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera and Safari 14 and later. Recent versions of Windows, macOS, Android and iOS can preview it, and modern editors such as Photoshop, GIMP, Affinity and Canva handle it.

Older programs, many printers, some e-commerce back ends and a lot of government or school upload forms still refuse WebP. For those you need to convert.

Choose JPG for photos and anything you want to keep small. Choose PNG if the WebP has a transparent background or contains text, a logo or a screenshot. If you convert a transparent WebP to JPG, the transparent area turns into a solid color, usually white, because JPG cannot store transparency.

Drop the file into a WebP converter and download the result. It runs in your browser, so the picture stays on your device.

For websites, usually yes: smaller files at the same visual quality. For sharing a photo with another person or uploading it to an unknown form, JPG is still the safest choice because every program on earth understands it.