What is WebP?
WebP is an image format Google announced in 2010. Its lossy mode is based on the VP8 video codec; lossless compression and transparency were added soon after. Google’s own studies found lossy WebP files 25–34% smaller than JPG at the same visual quality, which is why news sites, shops and social networks now serve most of their images as WebP.
Browser support took a decade to become universal: Chrome supported it early, Firefox from version 65 (2019) and Safari from version 14 (2020). Today every current browser shows WebP. The problems start outside the browser: older photo viewers, some versions of Microsoft Office, many print shops, government upload forms and plenty of apps still expect JPG.
Why convert WebP to JPG
- You saved an image from a website and it will not open, attach or upload.
- A form, print service or marketplace accepts JPG only.
- You want to edit the image in software that does not read WebP.
- You are sending photos to someone on an older phone or computer.
JPG is the most widely supported image format in existence, so converting is the safest way to make an image work everywhere.
The trade-off: bigger files
Both WebP and JPG are lossy. When you convert, the WebP is decoded to pixels and those pixels are compressed again as JPG. Because WebP is the more efficient format, the JPG is usually larger:
| 1920 × 1200 photo | WebP (quality 80) | JPG (quality 90) |
|---|---|---|
| Hills and sky | 90 KB | 301 KB |
| Forest lake | 169 KB | 314 KB |
A lower JPG quality brings the size down. At 80 most photos still look the same as the WebP at normal viewing size. Avoid converting back and forth repeatedly: each lossy save adds a little blur.
Transparency and animation
WebP can contain transparent areas and even animation; JPG can do neither.
- Transparent WebP images (stickers, logos, product cut-outs) are placed on the background colour you choose, white by default. If you need the transparency, use WebP to PNG instead.
- Animated WebP files are converted using their first frame.
How to convert WebP to JPG on your device
- Windows: the Photos app and Paint can open WebP on up-to-date Windows 10 and 11; in Paint choose File → Save as → JPEG picture.
- Mac: open the file in Preview and choose File → Export → JPEG.
This page does the same job for any number of files in one go, keeps the file names (product-1200w.webp becomes product-1200w.jpg) and never uploads anything. If a file you drop is actually a PNG or AVIF in disguise, which happens with images saved from the web, the converter detects the real format and still produces a JPG.
Tips
- Keep the original WebP if you might need the image on a website again; it is smaller.
- Images saved from social networks are often already heavily compressed. Converting cannot restore detail, so a quality of 85–90 is plenty.
- To shrink the result for an upload limit, use Compress to KB; for general size reduction use Compress Image.
- Got AVIF files from the web too? Convert them with AVIF to JPG.