Why a WebP File Won't Open (and How to Fix It)

By Andrew Butson · July 2, 2026 · 6 min read

You right-click an image on a website, choose "Save image as…", and the file that lands on your desktop is a .webp. Now half your software refuses to open it: older photo viewers show an error, Word won't insert it, a print shop bounces the upload. The picture is fine; the format is just newer than a lot of the software people still use.

WebP isn't a Google trick or a broken JPEG. It's a real, open, royalty-free image format that most of the software you use every day quietly already supports. The gap is narrower than it looks, and there are several ways through it depending on whether the problem is your computer, someone else's, or a piece of software you don't control.

What WebP actually is, and why it's everywhere now

Google released WebP in 2010, aiming to replace JPEG and PNG for the web with something smaller: at equivalent quality it typically runs 25–35% lighter than a JPEG or PNG, and unlike JPEG it can hold transparency and even short animations. Every current browser, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari since version 14, displays it natively, so more sites now serve images as WebP by default to save bandwidth. That's exactly why an ordinary-looking photo you save from a web page increasingly comes down as .webp instead of .jpg without you choosing that.

The format isn't the problem; the age of the software opening it is. Anything built or last updated before WebP became mainstream, such as legacy image viewers, some older versions of Office, a fair few print and CMS upload forms, and some standalone photo editors, was never taught to recognise the file signature, so it refuses it outright rather than showing a broken image.

Fixing it on your own machine

Which fix applies depends on what you're running:

• Windows: install the free "WebP Image Extensions" app from the Microsoft Store. It teaches File Explorer and the Photos app to generate thumbnails and open .webp files directly. Without it, a WebP just shows a blank icon, the same problem HEIC files hit on Windows for a different reason.
• Mac: Preview and Quick Look have handled WebP natively since macOS Big Sur, so on a reasonably current Mac you can already open it, and Preview's File → Export lets you save a copy as JPEG or PNG straight from there.
• Older Photoshop or another editor without a WebP plugin: this is the case a converter solves fastest. Turn the file into JPEG or PNG once, and every piece of software you own can use it from then on.
• An upload form or print shop that flatly rejects .webp: don't try to rename the extension. The file's actual encoding stays WebP no matter what you call it, and most forms check the real content, not just the filename. Convert it properly first.

Converting it properly

Morphr decodes the WebP and re-encodes it as JPEG or PNG entirely in your browser, so nothing is uploaded before you've even solved the compatibility problem. Pick JPEG for a normal photo you're emailing or uploading somewhere; pick PNG if the WebP has a transparent background you need to keep, since JPEG can't store transparency and Morphr flattens it onto a solid colour instead. Either way, whether the source WebP was the lossy or lossless kind, the JPEG you get out is a fresh lossy copy, which is simply how JPEG works and not something specific to this conversion.

If you're the one publishing images rather than receiving them, such as a photographer sending proofs or a small business emailing a product shot, it's worth converting to JPEG before you send if there's any reason to think the recipient's software is older. WebP is the right choice for a fast-loading website; it's the wrong choice the moment compatibility matters more than file size.

One side effect worth knowing about: like any re-encode, converting a WebP strips the EXIF and GPS data it was carrying. Most WebP files saved from a website never had that metadata to begin with, since it's usually stripped on the way to the page, but a WebP saved from your own camera roll or a messaging app can still carry it, and the JPEG or PNG you download from Morphr won't.

Frequently asked questions

Is WebP safe to open, or is this a sign of something malicious?

It's completely legitimate. WebP is a standard, open image format, not a disguised or unusual file type. The "won't open" problem is purely a software-age issue: whatever's trying to open it predates WebP support.

Why did an image save as .webp when the page just looked like a normal photo?

Browsers ask sites for the smallest image they can display, and most modern sites now serve WebP by default because it's smaller than the JPEG or PNG equivalent at the same quality. You didn't choose the format; the website did, on your browser's behalf.

Can I convert a whole folder of WebP images at once?

Yes. Drop as many files as you like into Morphr in one go and they come back together as a single ZIP, rather than converting one at a time.

Will I lose quality converting WebP to JPG?

If the original WebP was lossless, yes, a little, since JPEG is a lossy format, so the JPEG copy won't be pixel-for-pixel identical, though it's hard to see at a high quality setting. If the original WebP was already lossy, you're going lossy-to-lossy, which loses less than you'd think but still isn't a bit-for-bit copy.