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What is WebP?

WebP is an image format developed by Google that offers both a lossy and a lossless mode, supports transparency and animation in either mode, and is typically 25–35% smaller than a JPG of comparable quality.

WebP at a glance

MIME type
image/webp
File extensions
.webp
Specification
Google WebP container specification, RIFF-based; lossy uses VP8 intra coding, lossless uses VP8L
Compression
Both. Lossy (VP8) for photographs, lossless (VP8L) for graphics — the same extension covers both.
Transparency
Full alpha channel, in both the lossy and the lossless mode.
Animation
Supported, and far smaller than the equivalent GIF.
Colour depth
8 bits per channel. No HDR.
Metadata
Optional EXIF and XMP chunks.
Support
All current browsers: Chrome since 2010, Firefox 65, Edge 18 and Safari 14 (2020). Older desktop software and some corporate document systems still refuse it.

Strengths and weaknesses

  • One format covers photographs, graphics, transparency and animation.
  • Lossy WebP keeps transparency, which JPG cannot do at all.
  • Meaningfully smaller than JPG and PNG for web delivery.
  • Support outside the browser is patchy — print shops, older editors and some upload forms reject it.
  • Lossy WebP at low settings smooths fine texture more aggressively than JPG does.
  • Re-encoding an already-compressed JPG to WebP often produces a larger file, not a smaller one.

When WebP is the right answer

For anything served on a web page, WebP is usually the best default: it handles photographs and flat graphics well, keeps transparency, and is understood by every browser in current use.

For anything leaving the browser — an attachment to a client, a file for a printer, an upload to a system you do not control — convert to JPG or PNG first. Format support is the one thing you cannot argue with once the file has been sent.

Why converting JPG to WebP can make the file bigger

A JPG has already been through a lossy encoder. Its compression artefacts are now part of the picture, and a second encoder has to spend bits reproducing them. Feeding a heavily compressed JPG into WebP therefore often produces a larger file — that is the expected outcome, not a fault in the converter.

The saving is real when you start from a lossless source: PNG or a camera original.

Working with WebP files

Convert to WebP

Convert or edit a WebP file

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