How to Open WebP Files
(and When to Convert to PNG)

How to Open WebP Files

• Windows 11: double-click; Photos and Paint open WebP, and Paint can save it as PNG or JPEG.
• Windows 10: install Microsoft’s free WebP Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store, then use Photos.
• Mac (Big Sur or later): Preview and Quick Look open WebP. Use File → Export in Preview to save PNG or JPEG.
• iPhone, iPad (iOS 14+) and Android: Photos, Files, Gallery and Google Photos display WebP.
• Any computer: drag the file into Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
• Editors: Photoshop 23.2+, GIMP 2.10+ and Paint.NET open WebP.

When you convert WebP to PNG here, transparency is kept and an animated WebP becomes a PNG of its first frame.

The WebP Compatibility Problem

WebP was created by Google in 2010 to make web images smaller. It succeeded: lossless WebP files are about 26% smaller than PNGs, and lossy WebP files are smaller still. Browsers adopted it, and websites started serving images exclusively in WebP.

The problem: the rest of the software world has not caught up. When you download a WebP image from a website and try to use it outside a browser, you frequently hit a wall. The image will not open, insert, attach, upload, or print. Converting to PNG solves every one of these problems because PNG is the most universally supported image format in existence.

Software Compatibility Matrix

Here is the current state of WebP support across common software:

7 Reasons to Convert WebP to PNG

1. Printing

Print-on-demand services (Vistaprint, Shutterfly, MOO), local print shops, and professional printing workflows almost universally require PNG, TIFF, or PDF. WebP is a web-only format — the printing industry has not adopted it and likely never will. If you need to print an image you found online, convert it to PNG first.

2. Email attachments

Older Outlook desktop builds do not display WebP images; recipients see a broken image icon or a generic file attachment. Many corporate email systems strip WebP attachments entirely. PNG is universally supported in every email client on every platform.

3. Office documents

If you need to insert an image into a Word document, PowerPoint presentation, or Excel spreadsheet, and anyone in your audience might use Office 2019 or earlier, use PNG. Only recent Microsoft 365 builds insert WebP. Using PNG guarantees the image displays correctly for everyone.

4. Image editing

Many image editors either cannot open WebP or have limited WebP support. Even when an editor can open WebP, saving/exporting options may be restricted. PNG is the universal interchange format for image editing — every editor supports it fully.

5. CMS and website builders

Not all website platforms accept WebP uploads. Wix, some older WordPress installations, and custom CMS platforms may reject WebP. Converting to PNG ensures you can upload the image anywhere.

6. Sharing with non-technical users

If you send a WebP file to someone who is not tech-savvy, they may not know how to open it. Their default image viewer might not support it. PNG opens everywhere — Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android. Zero friction.

7. Archival and future-proofing

PNG has been a web standard since 1996 and is an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 15948). It will be readable decades from now. WebP is open and royalty-free, but it dates from 2010 and is backed mainly by Google. For long-term image storage, PNG is the safer choice.

The Quality Tradeoff

Converting WebP to PNG involves an important tradeoff:

• No additional quality loss: PNG is lossless, so the conversion preserves every pixel exactly as decoded from the WebP. No further degradation occurs.
• Cannot recover lost quality: if the WebP was lossy (most are), compression artifacts are baked into the pixel data. Converting to PNG preserves those artifacts — it does not remove them.
• Larger file size: the PNG file will typically be 3–5x larger than the WebP. This is because PNG stores every pixel losslessly, while WebP lossy compression discarded data to achieve smaller files.

Bottom line: WebP to PNG conversion preserves quality but increases file size. This is the correct tradeoff when you need compatibility over compression.

Why Websites Use WebP

If WebP causes compatibility problems, why do websites use it? The answer is performance:

• About 26% smaller than PNG in lossless mode, much smaller in lossy mode
• Faster page loads = better user experience and higher Google rankings
• Lower bandwidth costs for high-traffic sites
• Every current major browser displays WebP

Websites serve WebP because browsers support it and the compression savings are significant. The compatibility issues only surface when images leave the browser — downloaded, emailed, printed, or edited.

How to Save Website Images as PNG Instead of WebP

When you right-click and “Save Image As” from a website, the browser saves the WebP version. Here are workarounds:

• Convert after saving: save the WebP, then convert it to PNG using our converter. This is the simplest and most reliable method.
• Browser extension: extensions such as “Save Image as Type” add a right-click option to save images as PNG or JPG.
• Screenshot method: take a screenshot and crop the image. This works but may reduce quality due to screen resolution limitations.
• View page source: some sites serve JPG/PNG originals with WebP as an optimization layer. Check the page source for alternate image URLs.