WebP Conversion Guide: How to Open and Convert WebP Files

You find the perfect image on the web. A gorgeous product shot, a meme worth saving, a reference photo for a project. You right-click, hit “Save Image As,” and your computer hands you a .webp file. You double-click it. Nothing happens. Or worse, Paint opens it and everything looks fine until you try to paste it into a Word document and the whole thing falls apart.

Welcome to the WebP experience.

I’ve lost count of how many times someone’s messaged me some variation of “I downloaded an image and it won’t open, what’s wrong with it?” The answer is almost always WebP. It’s Google’s image format, it’s technically superior to JPEG in almost every way, and it still manages to confuse millions of people every single day.

Let’s fix that. This guide covers everything you need to know about WebP: why it exists, how to convert it to formats your software actually understands, and when you should be converting to WebP instead of running away from it.

Why Google Went and Invented a New Image Format

JPEG has been around since 1992. Let that sink in. The format most of the internet’s images use is older than many of the people browsing it. And honestly, JPEG held up remarkably well for three decades. But it was never designed for the modern web, where every kilobyte of page weight affects your Core Web Vitals, your bounce rate, and ultimately your bottom line.

Google looked at this situation around 2010 and said, essentially, “We serve billions of images a day across Search, YouTube thumbnails, and Chrome. What if we just… made a better format?”

The result was WebP. Here’s what makes it genuinely impressive:

WebP images are typically 25-35% smaller than equivalent JPEGs with no visible quality difference. Not a subtle lab-measurement difference — I mean you literally cannot tell them apart at normal viewing size. For a single blog post with ten images, that savings might not matter much. For a site serving millions of pages a day, it’s the difference between paying for three CDN servers or two.

But WebP doesn’t just beat JPEG at the lossy compression game. It also supports lossless compression (like PNG, but with smaller files), transparency (goodbye, needing PNG just for alpha channels), and even animation (a better-compressed alternative to GIF). It’s basically three formats wearing a trenchcoat pretending to be one format, except it actually pulls it off.

The technical reason WebP works so well comes down to its foundation: it’s derived from the VP8 video codec. Video compression algorithms are incredibly sophisticated because they need to compress 30-60 frames per second of image data in real time. Applying that same intelligence to a single still image gives WebP a massive efficiency advantage over JPEG’s 1990s-era compression. For a deeper comparison with real benchmarks, our WebP vs JPEG vs PNG comparison has the full breakdown.

The “I Can’t Open This File” Problem

So if WebP is so great, why does everyone hate it?

Because for years, hardly anything outside of a web browser could open the files.

Here’s the frustrating timeline: Google released WebP in 2010. Chrome supported it immediately, because of course it did — Google made both. Firefox didn’t add support until 2019. Safari held out until 2020. And desktop operating systems? Windows didn’t get native WebP support in Photos until Windows 10’s later updates. macOS was even later.

That means for roughly a decade, you could browse images perfectly fine in your web browser, but the moment you saved one to your desktop, it became a mystery file your computer couldn’t handle. Adobe Photoshop didn’t support WebP natively until 2022. Many email clients still don’t render WebP inline. Try uploading a WebP image to certain older CMS platforms or social media scheduling tools and you’ll get a cryptic “unsupported format” error.

The good news? In 2026, the situation is dramatically better. Windows, macOS, and most Linux desktops open WebP natively. Photoshop, GIMP, Affinity Photo, and basically every modern image editor handles them. Browser support is above 97% globally.

The bad news? There are still enough edge cases to keep the “how to convert WebP to JPG” search query alive and well. Legacy enterprise software, older print workflows, certain social platforms, email newsletters — the list of places that still choke on WebP is shorter than it used to be, but it hasn’t hit zero yet. If you think WebP compatibility is frustrating, try dealing with HEIC files — our HEIC to JPG guide covers a format with even worse cross-platform support. For a broader look at where different formats are supported and where they aren’t, our image file formats guide covers the full landscape.

Turning WebP Into JPEG (And When You Should)

Converting WebP to JPEG is the most common conversion people search for, and it’s usually because they need the image to work somewhere that doesn’t accept WebP. Fair enough. Here’s what you need to know.

When WebP-to-JPEG makes sense:

You’re uploading to a platform that specifically requires JPEG. You’re sending images in an email and want guaranteed rendering across every client. You’re working with print services that only accept JPEG and TIFF. You’re feeding images into older software — think legacy CMS platforms, ancient WordPress themes, or that internal company tool from 2014 that nobody’s updated.

When it doesn’t make sense:

If you’re putting images on a modern website, converting WebP to JPEG is going backwards. You’re literally making the file bigger for no benefit. Same goes if the image will only ever live on your computer or in cloud storage — modern operating systems handle WebP fine.

The quality conversation:

Here’s something people don’t always think about. When you convert a lossy WebP to JPEG, you’re going from one lossy format to another. Each lossy compression pass throws away some data. So if the original WebP was saved at quality 75, and you convert it to JPEG at quality 80, the result has been through two rounds of lossy compression. It won’t look terrible, but it won’t be as sharp as if you’d started from the original uncompressed source.

My recommendation? Convert at JPEG quality 85-90 to minimize additional quality loss during the format switch. The file will be larger than the WebP was, but you’re already accepting larger files by choosing JPEG. If quality really matters, consider going to PNG instead.

For quick single or batch conversions, BulkImagePro’s WebP to JPG converter handles everything in your browser. Drag your files in, set your quality, download the JPEGs. Nothing gets uploaded to a server, which is nice when you’re working with client images or anything sensitive.

When You Need PNG Instead

Sometimes JPEG isn’t the right destination either. If your WebP image has transparency — a logo with a clear background, a product shot with the background removed, an icon or UI element — converting to JPEG will fill that transparent area with white (or whatever background color your converter defaults to). That’s probably not what you want.

PNG preserves transparency perfectly, which makes WebP-to-PNG the right move when:

• The image has an alpha channel you need to keep
• You want a lossless copy for further editing
• You’re preparing assets for a design tool like Figma or Sketch
• The image contains sharp text, line art, or technical diagrams where JPEG compression would introduce ugly artifacts around the edges

The trade-off is file size. PNG files are typically much larger than both WebP and JPEG for photographic content. A 200 KB WebP photo might balloon to 1.5 MB as a PNG. That’s fine for editing workflows and design assets, but don’t serve those PNGs on a website if you can avoid it. If you need lossless quality for professional print work specifically, our TIFF format guide covers when that even larger but more capable format is the right call.

BulkImagePro’s WebP to PNG converter works the same way as the JPEG converter — drag, drop, download. Since PNG is lossless, there’s no quality setting to worry about. What goes in comes out pixel-perfect, just in a different container.

The Other Direction: Why You Should Be Converting TO WebP

Here’s where I put on my “web performance consultant” hat and gently suggest that maybe, just maybe, you should be converting your images to WebP rather than away from it.

I know, I know. You came here because WebP was annoying you. But hear me out.

If you run a website — a blog, an online store, a portfolio, anything — your images are almost certainly your biggest performance bottleneck. The average web page in 2026 is roughly 2.5 MB, and images typically account for 50-70% of that weight. Switching from JPEG to WebP can cut your total image payload by a quarter to a third. That’s not a micro-optimization. That’s the single biggest improvement most sites can make.

And the browser support objection doesn’t hold up anymore. Over 97% of browsers worldwide support WebP. The only gaps are Internet Explorer (officially dead since 2022) and Safari versions before 14 (released in 2020). If you’re still designing for IE11 in 2026, you have bigger problems than image formats.

Converting JPEG to WebP is straightforward. Take your existing JPEGs, run them through a converter at quality 75-80, and you’ll get files that look identical but load significantly faster. BulkImagePro’s JPG to WebP converter processes up to 50 images at a time, which makes converting an entire blog’s image library a 15-minute job instead of an all-day affair.

Converting PNG to WebP is where the savings get really dramatic. If you have PNG photographs (which you shouldn’t, but many sites do), converting to lossy WebP can reduce file sizes by 80% or more. Even for graphics and screenshots, WebP lossless mode typically produces files 25-35% smaller than PNG. Our PNG to WebP converter handles both scenarios.

For the full picture on choosing between formats, our image format comparison lays out the benchmarks side by side. And if you want to understand the broader world of image formats beyond just WebP, the complete format overview is worth a read.

WebP vs AVIF: The Next Format War Is Already Here

Just when everyone was getting comfortable with WebP, along comes AVIF to shake things up again.

AVIF is based on the AV1 video codec, developed by the Alliance for Open Media (which, fun fact, includes Google, Apple, Mozilla, and Microsoft — basically everyone who matters). It’s royalty-free, it compresses even better than WebP, and it’s rapidly gaining browser support.

How much better? In my testing, AVIF files are typically 20% smaller than WebP at equivalent visual quality, and roughly 50% smaller than JPEG. AVIF also handles gradients and smooth tones better than WebP, which means fewer of those annoying banding artifacts in sky shots and portrait backgrounds.

But — and this is a significant but — AVIF has real drawbacks:

Encoding is painfully slow. Converting a batch of 50 images to AVIF takes noticeably longer than converting to WebP. We’re talking 10-100x slower in some cases. For a build pipeline that runs once, this is fine. For real-time processing, it’s a deal-breaker.

Browser support is good but not great. Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari 16+ all support AVIF, putting global coverage around 92%. That’s solid, but it’s not the 97%+ that WebP enjoys. The gap matters if you care about reaching every visitor.

Software support is still catching up. Your favorite image editor might not export AVIF yet. Some CMS platforms don’t recognize it. CDN support varies.

My recommendation for most people in 2026: serve WebP as your default modern format, and add AVIF as a progressive enhancement if your tooling supports it. The HTML <picture> element makes this easy:

<picture>
  <source srcset="photo.avif" type="image/avif">
  <source srcset="photo.webp" type="image/webp">
  <img src="photo.jpg" alt="Description">
</picture>

Browsers that understand AVIF get the smallest file. Everyone else gets WebP. Ancient browsers fall back to JPEG. Nobody sees a broken image. Everybody wins.

For a deeper dive into AVIF and how it compares to older formats, check out our HEIF and AVIF formats guide and the AVIF compression deep-dive.

Batch WebP Conversion Without the Headache

Let’s be practical. If you’ve got three images to convert, you can use literally any tool and be done in a minute. The real challenge is when you’ve got dozens or hundreds of images that all need to go from one format to another. Maybe you’re migrating a website to WebP, or maybe you downloaded an entire image library from a platform that serves everything in WebP and now you need JPEGs for a print project.

This is where batch conversion tools earn their keep.

BulkImagePro’s image converter handles batch WebP conversion in both directions. Here’s the workflow I use:

Converting a batch of WebP files to JPEG or PNG:

1. Open BulkImagePro’s converter — no account, no install
2. Drag up to 50 WebP files onto the page
3. Pick your output format (JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics with transparency)
4. Set your quality level — I typically use 85 for JPEG output
5. Download everything as a ZIP

Converting a library of JPEG/PNG files to WebP:

1. Same tool, same process, just select WebP as the output format
2. Quality 75-80 is the sweet spot for most web images
3. Drop your entire image folder in and let it process
4. Download the WebP versions and update your site

The whole thing runs in your browser. Your images never leave your computer, which matters a lot when you’re working with client files, product photos, or anything you wouldn’t want floating around on someone else’s server.

For really large batches — thousands of images — you might want a command-line approach. Google’s cwebp tool converts to WebP, and dwebp converts from WebP. ImageMagick handles both directions. But for the 90% of people who need to convert a few dozen images on a regular basis, a browser-based tool is faster than messing with terminal commands. If your batch includes legacy bitmap files alongside the WebP conversions, our BMP conversion guide covers that cleanup process too.

If you also need to resize images during the conversion — say you’re preparing a set of blog images that should be 1200px wide and WebP format — BulkImagePro’s resizer and compressor work in the same pipeline. Resize, convert, compress, download. One workflow, five minutes, done.

For a comprehensive look at batch conversion workflows across all formats, our image format conversion guide covers the complete picture.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I convert a WebP file to JPG?

The simplest way is to use an online converter like BulkImagePro's WebP to JPG tool. Drag your WebP file onto the page, select JPEG as the output format, choose a quality level (85% works well for most images), and download the converted file. You can also convert in bulk — up to 50 files at once. For desktop options, opening the WebP in any modern image editor (Photoshop, GIMP, Paint.NET) and using "Save As" or "Export" with JPEG selected works just as well.

Does converting WebP to JPG lose quality?

There is some quality loss when converting between two lossy formats. The WebP file has already been through one round of lossy compression, and saving as JPEG adds a second round. However, at JPEG quality 85-90, the additional loss is minimal and usually invisible at normal viewing sizes. To minimize degradation, always convert from the highest-quality source available rather than from an already-compressed copy.

Why are images saving as WebP instead of JPG?

Most modern websites serve images in WebP format because it produces smaller files that load faster. When you right-click and save an image from a website, your browser saves it in whatever format the server delivered — which is increasingly WebP. Some browsers also convert images to WebP during the save process. If you need the image as a JPEG, you can convert it after saving using a tool like BulkImagePro's converter.

Is WebP better than JPEG for websites?

Yes, for nearly all website use cases. WebP files are 25-35% smaller than JPEGs at equivalent visual quality, and WebP supports transparency and animation — features JPEG lacks entirely. With over 97% global browser support in 2026, there is no practical reason to prefer JPEG over WebP for web delivery. The only scenario where JPEG still wins is maximum compatibility with legacy systems, older email clients, and print workflows.

Can I convert WebP to PNG without losing transparency?

Absolutely. PNG fully supports alpha channel transparency, so converting a transparent WebP to PNG preserves the transparency perfectly. This is actually the recommended conversion path when you need to maintain transparency, since JPEG does not support transparency at all. Use BulkImagePro's WebP to PNG converter to handle this in bulk.

Should I convert all my website images to WebP?

For web delivery, converting to WebP is one of the single best performance optimizations you can make. You will typically see 25-35% file size savings across your entire image library with no visible quality difference. However, keep your original JPEG and PNG files as source copies — never delete them. If you ever need to re-export at different settings or convert to a future format, you want the highest-quality originals available.

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Ready to stop fighting with WebP? Try BulkImagePro’s free converter to batch-convert images between WebP, JPEG, and PNG — up to 50 at a time, no signup required. Need to shrink file sizes too? The image compressor handles that in the same workflow. All processing happens in your browser, so your images never leave your device.