You saved a picture from a website, but instead of a familiar JPG you got a file with a .webp extension that won't open in your editor or paste into a document. Let's look at what this format is and how to work with it.
What is WebP
WebP is an image format created by Google specifically for the web. It compresses images more efficiently than JPEG and PNG at comparable quality, which is why sites using it load faster. As a result, more and more websites now serve images in WebP.
The catch is compatibility: modern browsers display WebP just fine, but many programs — graphic editors, office apps, older viewers — can't open it.
How to open a WebP file
- Browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) — just drag the file into a browser window and it will display the picture.
- Modern editors — recent versions of Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET support WebP (sometimes via a plugin).
- Windows 11 and updated Windows 10 — open WebP directly in the Photos app.
But if you need to paste the image into Word, send it to someone with older software, or edit it in an app without WebP support, the easiest fix is to convert the file to a universal format.
How to convert WebP to JPG
For photos, choose JPG — it opens everywhere and stays compact. Use our WebP to JPG converter: upload the file, download the resulting JPG. Everything happens in your browser and on the server, and the file is deleted right away.
When PNG is a better choice than JPG
If the image has a transparent background (a logo, icon, or sticker) or it's a screenshot with sharp text, choose PNG instead — it preserves transparency and doesn't blur crisp edges. There's a dedicated tool for that: WebP to PNG.
Quick rule of thumb: photos go to JPG, graphics with transparency go to PNG.
Bottom line
WebP is a perfectly normal modern format — it's just that not every program supports it yet. You can open it in a browser, and to make it work everywhere else, convert it to JPG or PNG in a couple of seconds.