Convert WebP to PNG

Why so many downloads are WebP

WebP is Google's picture format for the web. Its files are smaller than JPG or PNG for the same look, so many websites, shops and image services send WebP to any browser that can show it, and today that is every current browser. When you right-click a picture and choose “Save image as”, the browser saves what the site sent: a .webp.

On Windows 10 and 11 the Photos app opens WebP, so the trouble starts later, when the picture has to go somewhere else:

• an older photo editor, office program or design tool that does not list WebP among the files it opens,
• an upload form for an application, a profile or a print order that accepts only JPG and PNG,
• a slide, a document or a forum post that shows the picture as a broken icon.

PNG works in all of those places, and unlike JPG it keeps a see-through background. Some sites have moved on to AVIF, an even newer format with the same problem; AVIF to PNG handles those the same way.

What survives the trip to PNG

PNG is lossless: it stores exactly the pixels it is given. So the real question is what the WebP held in the first place.

• A lossless WebP becomes a PNG that matches it pixel for pixel.
• A lossy WebP, the usual kind for photos, becomes a PNG of exactly what the WebP shows. Any softness or blockiness the website's compression added stays, but nothing new is lost.
• Transparency, including soft edges and shadows that fade out, carries over as it is. A product photo cut out on a clear background stays cut out.

The dimensions do not change either: at the full size, the PNG has exactly the WebP's width and height in pixels.

The price is file size. A photo saved as PNG is often several times bigger than the WebP it came from, because PNG has no way to leave detail out. For a photo you only want to share or upload, WebP to JPG gives a much smaller file.

PNG or JPG for this WebP?

Converting a WebP is usually about getting a file another program accepts, and PNG is not always the right answer. A quick guide:

Not sure whether the WebP has see-through parts? Open it in the Photo Editor, which shows small light squares wherever a picture is clear. If there are none and the picture is a photo, JPG is the lighter choice.

If the picture is going back onto a website, think about leaving it as WebP, or make a fresh one later from your PNG with PNG to WebP.

The other route: Many pictures at once

If you do not need to change anything, there is a smaller tool for straight conversions. Press Convert pictures on the Photo Editor's start page, or choose File › Many pictures at once… and Convert, and drop the WebP on it. Drop one WebP or a whole set; the same setting applies to all. Set Format to PNG; leaving it on Same would give you a WebP again.

The tool lays the original and the PNG side by side with their dimensions and exact file sizes, and the percentage between them, so you see how much the file grows before you commit. Save PNG opens the Windows Save window with the original name and a .png ending, and Open another clears the tool for the next picture.

Both routes write the same kind of PNG, and neither copies the location, camera or date details a photo may carry.