What Is WebP? Google's Image Format Explained
WebP is Google's Answer to JPG and PNG
WebP is an image format developed by Google, released in 2010. It combines the best parts of JPG and PNG: it handles photos (lossy compression) like JPG, but also supports transparency and lossless compression like PNG. WebP files are typically 25-35% smaller than equivalent JPG files and significantly smaller than PNGs with transparency.
Why You're Seeing WebP Everywhere
If you've tried to save images from the web recently, you've likely ended up with .webp files instead of .jpg or .png. That's because Google has been pushing WebP adoption for years. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge all support it. Major sites like Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, and Amazon serve images in WebP to reduce bandwidth. Google PageSpeed even penalizes sites that don't use WebP or similar modern formats.
Why WebP Is Annoying
Despite browser support, software support lags behind. Photoshop only added native WebP support in version 23.2 (2022). Many image editors, document tools, and older applications can't open WebP files. If you save a product image from Amazon and try to insert it into a Word document, it probably won't work. This is why WebP-to-JPG conversion is one of the most searched format conversions online.
WebP vs JPG vs PNG vs AVIF
JPG: smallest files for photos, no transparency, universal support. PNG: lossless quality, supports transparency, large files. WebP: smaller than both for most use cases, supports transparency and animation, good but not universal support. AVIF: even smaller than WebP (20-30%), but slower to encode and less software support. For most people, WebP is the current sweet spot between compression and compatibility.
How to Convert WebP
To convert WebP to JPG or PNG: upload to CocoConvert, select your target format, and download. If you need to convert images TO WebP for a website, the same tool works in reverse. For developers, the cwebp command-line tool from Google handles conversion, and most CDNs (Cloudflare, CloudFront) can auto-convert to WebP on the fly.