What is a WebP file (and how do I open one)?
10 September 2026 · 5 min read
You right-clicked an image, saved it, and got a file ending in .webp. Then you tried to drop it into a document, a listing, or an old bit of software — and it refused.
Nothing is broken. You've just met the format the web quietly switched to.
The short version
WebP is an image format Google released in 2010 to make web pages load faster. It stores the same picture in noticeably fewer bytes than a JPG or PNG — typically 25–35% smaller at comparable quality.
It's genuinely capable. In one format it can do:
- Lossy compression, like JPG — small files, some detail discarded.
- Lossless compression, like PNG — every pixel preserved.
- Transparency, like PNG — including on lossy images, which JPG can't do at all.
- Animation, like GIF — but far smaller.
That combination is why sites adopted it. Smaller pages rank better and cost less to serve, so most modern platforms now hand you a WebP automatically.
So why won't it open?
Support arrived in browsers long before it reached everything else. Today every major browser displays WebP, and recent versions of Windows and macOS preview it natively.
The friction is everywhere else:
- Older versions of Photoshop need a plugin (it's built in from 23.2 onward).
- Plenty of ecommerce back-ends, print portals and job-application forms accept JPG or PNG only.
- Some client software and older phones simply don't recognise it.
Which is why "how do I open a WebP" almost always really means "how do I turn this into a JPG".
How to open a WebP right now
The quickest look: drag the file into any browser tab. Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge will all display it immediately.
To actually use it somewhere that won't take WebP, convert it.
Converting WebP to JPG or PNG
The Jump Studio image converter handles this in the browser — the file is never uploaded anywhere:
- Open the converter.
- Drop your
.webpfile in (or a whole folder of them). - Pick JPG or PNG as the output format.
- Export.
Which one? If the image has a transparent background, choose PNG — JPG has no transparency channel and will flatten it onto white. For ordinary photographs, JPG is smaller and perfectly fine.
Convert WebP to JPG or PNG
Drop in one file or a hundred. Runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Open the image converter →Should you be using WebP yourself?
It depends which direction the file is going.
| Use case | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Images on your own website | Yes — smaller pages, faster loads, better Core Web Vitals |
| Ecommerce product photos | Check the platform first — Shopify accepts it, some others don't |
| Sending files to a client | No — send JPG. Don't make someone else solve this problem |
| Print or press delivery | No — TIFF or high-quality JPG |
| Archiving your originals | No — keep the RAW or TIFF master |
Rule of thumb: WebP is a delivery format for the web. It's not a master, and it's not what you hand to someone who has to open it in whatever they happen to own.
Common questions
Does converting WebP to JPG lose quality?
A little, in principle. Both are lossy, so re-encoding discards some detail. In practice it's rarely visible at sensible quality settings — and if the WebP is already the only copy you have, you don't have a lossless route anyway. Just avoid converting back and forth repeatedly.
Why do websites serve WebP instead of JPG?
Page speed. WebP files are meaningfully smaller, pages load faster, and page speed feeds into search ranking. Most CMS platforms and CDNs now convert uploads to WebP automatically, which is why you get one when you save an image.
Can I convert a WebP with a transparent background?
Yes — convert it to PNG and the transparency survives. Convert it to JPG and the transparent area is flattened onto a white background, because JPG has no alpha channel.
What about animated WebP files?
Browser-based converters, including this one, work on a single frame — you'll get the first frame as a still image. Converting animation to animation needs a dedicated video/GIF tool.
Is WebP better than JPG?
For the web, generally yes — smaller at the same quality, and it supports transparency. For compatibility, JPG still wins comfortably. See JPG vs PNG vs WebP for a fuller comparison.