How to open a WEBP file on Windows, and why it won’t open
You saved a picture from a website, it turned out to be a .webp file, and an older program will not open it. Nothing is wrong with the picture — you just need a program that knows the format.
What WEBP is
WEBP is an image format from Google. At the same quality its files are noticeably smaller than JPG and PNG, so websites serve pictures as WEBP to load pages faster. When you save a picture from a browser, this is often the format you get.
What to open it with on Windows
- Photos in Windows 11 opens WEBP straight away.
- On Windows 10 you may need the free Webp Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store.
- Any browser — Chrome, Edge, Firefox — shows WEBP: drag the file into a browser window.
- OsonKit — open the image viewer to zoom in, fit the picture to the window or see it at actual size.
Why an older program won’t open it
The format appeared in 2010, and some older programs and editors simply do not know it. The opposite happens too: a file is named .jpg but is WEBP inside, and a program that trusts the extension reports an error. OsonKit recognises the format from the file’s contents, so it opens such a picture either way.
View it in the browser
Drop the picture on OsonKit or pick it with the button. PNG, JPG, WEBP and GIF open up to 30 MB and 100 megapixels, on a computer or a phone. The picture is read in your browser and never uploaded.