Download an image from almost any major website today and there is a good chance it will arrive as a .webp file. WebP is the image format that Google introduced in 2010 and that has since become the default for images on the web. It is excellent for what it does - but it refuses to cooperate with a long list of older apps, email clients, and document editors.
What WebP is and why websites use it
WebP is an image format built around a modern compression algorithm (derived from the VP8 video codec). The technical details matter less than the practical outcome: WebP files are roughly 25-35% smaller than equivalent JPGs at the same visual quality, and up to 50% smaller than equivalent PNGs for photos. For a website serving millions of images per day, that is a significant reduction in bandwidth and load time.
Modern browsers - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari - all support WebP natively, which is why you rarely notice the format when browsing. The problem only surfaces when you download the image and try to use it somewhere else.
Where WebP fails to open
- Email clients: Outlook and Apple Mail both have limited or no WebP support. A WebP image pasted into an email or attached inline may appear as a broken image for the recipient.
- Microsoft Office (older versions): Word and PowerPoint before Office 365 build 2108 do not support WebP. Even recent versions have inconsistent behaviour.
- Older iPhones and iPads: iOS 14 and earlier do not natively support WebP in the Photos app or system image viewer.
- Upload forms: Many CMS platforms, form builders, and file upload portals only accept JPG, PNG, and GIF - a widely used list that predates WebP's adoption.
- Photo editing software: Lightroom, older Photoshop versions, and many specialised editors do not support WebP without a plugin.
When to convert WebP to JPG
Convert to JPG when:
- You need to attach the image to an email
- You are inserting it into a Word or PowerPoint document
- You are uploading to a form or portal that rejects WebP
- You are sending the image to someone whose device may not open WebP
- You are using photo editing software that does not support WebP
Keep WebP when you are creating web pages and your target platform supports it - the smaller file size means faster loading and lower hosting costs.
How to convert WebP to JPG
Several options depending on your setup:
- Pagivo Convert Image: Convert Image on Pagivo accepts WebP and converts it to JPG, PNG, or other formats. Upload, choose JPG as the output, download.
- Pagivo WebP to JPG (coming soon): A dedicated WebP to JPG tool for batch conversion is being built on Pagivo.
- Windows: Open the WebP file in Paint (built into Windows), then File -> Save As -> JPEG.
- Mac: Open in Preview, then File -> Export, choose JPEG as the format.
- iPhone: WebP images saved from a browser are sometimes automatically converted to JPEG in the Photos app; if not, open in any photo editor app and save as JPG.
Does converting WebP to JPG reduce quality?
Slightly - both formats use lossy compression, so converting between them applies a second round of compression. At a high quality setting (85-90%), the difference is not noticeable in day-to-day use. The converted JPG will also be larger than the original WebP because JPG is a less efficient format.
If the image is important and you have access to the original source (the original photo or the uncompressed version), converting from the uncompressed source to JPG gives cleaner results than converting from a compressed WebP.