The .webp extension is used by a file format developed by Google to reduce the size of images.
Images with the .webp extension, although very small in size, offer very good quality since they are designed to make web pages faster. They are usually used by developers.
What are WebP files?
The WebP (pronounced Weppy) format is the sister project of the WebM video technology that uses the VP8 video codec and was developed by On2 Technologies. Google acquired On2 Technologies on February 19, 2010, and subsequently released the WebP format in September of that year.
60% to 65% of the bytes on most web pages are images, so Google thought of creating a free, open-source format that stores files with compression and without significant loss in quality.
By maintaining quality but reducing image size, web pages load faster, use less bandwidth, and save battery power – especially on mobile devices, when web pages use WebP images.
The WebP format uses “predictive” compression to encode an image. It checks the values of neighboring pixels to predict the values of the next ones. It then encodes only the difference between them.
This allows pixels to be copied multiple times in a single file. Storing only the data that changes between each block reduces storage space compared to PNG and JPEG formats. You can learn more on the official WebP compression techniques page.
WebP images are 26% smaller than PNG files and up to 34% smaller than lossy JPEG files in structural similarity equivalent (SSIM) quality index.
How do I open WebP images?
Because WebP was developed by Google and is free, it is already integrated into many applications and software that you may already have on your computer. Most web browsers already have the necessary plugin to handle this format.
WebP images are designed for the web and cannot be easily distinguished.
You can save a WebP image to your computer the same way you would any other image on the internet. Right-click on the image and then click “Save Image As.”
Select where you want to save the file and click on “Save”.
If you have any of the Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Opera applications, all you have to do is double-click on the image and it will open in your default browser.
You can edit WebP files using common graphics software, such as GIMP, ImageMagick , or Microsoft Paint, which natively opens WebP files by default. In Windows, right-click the image, point to “Open With,” and then select the program you want to edit it with.
IrfanView, Windows Photo Viewer, and Photoshop require plugins to open WebP images.
