If you have been hanging out on the net for a few years now, you have surely noticed that there is a photo format that is becoming more and more popular, especially on information sites, the Webp format . This format is very good for this kind of site, in particular because it allows you to put much smaller files than if it were classic types like JPG or even PNG which are heavier.
So, if your page is already several MB, being able to reduce its total weight by going through Webp is an element that must be taken into account. The problem is that for us, opening this type of file can be complicated. Fortunately, we explain how to achieve this in this article.
Use a web browser
The Webp format, as we have just explained to you, is a format that is there specifically for the Internet. Indeed, it is light and therefore allows good navigation. Moreover, it is their main use. Therefore, when you go to open a file in Webp that you have just downloaded, it will open a web page, the page from which you downloaded this image to be quite precise.
If you just want to look at this image once in a while, that's enough, but if you want to manipulate it, for example, you may find yourself stuck quite quickly. This is why if this solution is viable, we will also see several others in the rest of this article.
Go through an image converter
One of the simplest solutions is simply to go through an image converter .
The idea is simple, either you download the photo in Webp format, or you simply indicate its URL and let a site work for you. The only thing you have to do is to determine which format you want to output and after a few seconds, you will be able to download your photo in the desired format.
This is a good solution, although it also has weak points.
The first of these weak points is that each image takes time. Therefore, if you have large quantities to transform, it will take you many minutes, sometimes even hours, before you can do it. Another big negative point, all these sites have a free version which generally allows you to make about ten conversions . From there, you'll need to upgrade to the paid version of the site to continue, or wait a while before trying again.
Manually change the file type
Another very simple solution, it can be to change the extension of a file to transform it into another. For example, let's say you have an image “chat.webp”. The goal will then be to change it to “chat.png”. This manipulation is quite easy to do and does not really require computer knowledge. Just be aware that sometimes it won't work and you'll get a message that the file is damaged or corrupted.
As for the procedure to follow to make this change, which will reassure you still works in the vast majority of cases, here it is:
- Open the folder where your images are stored.
- Click View at the top.
- Then click on “ file name extension ”.
- Then go to the desired image and rename it.
- Change it to .webp and .jpg.
- Save the change.
Using Paint
Tampering with file names scares you? No worries, there's another super easy technique that lets you change your file type, all using a tool you're probably familiar with, Paint.
Indeed, here the goal will be quite simple. Once you are in front of your file, right click on it. Then go to open with and then choose to do it with the Paint software installed as standard on any Windows PC.
You will then see that even if the image is of .webp type, Paint is quite capable of opening it. Yes, but then, how to transform it into PNG or JPEG ?
The maneuver is not very complicated. Go to files and save as and you will then have the option to save your photo as a PNG.
Choose this option and voila, you will now have the possibility of being able to easily open it in a brand new format.
Use an extension on Chrome to avoid Webp
So far, we have seen the case where you have already downloaded an image in Webp format because if you have landed here, it is surely that it is indeed the case. So, this last advice, it will be very useful to you in the future. Indeed, if you use Google Chrome like a good part of the population, you surely know that there are extensions on this browser. Well, go to the store and download the Save image as PNG extension .
So even if you have to deal with files in Webp, you'll easily parry it all. From then on, you should not have any more worries at this level in the future.
Conclusion
Now you know how to deal with the Webp problem which should continue to increase in the years to come. Indeed, Google takes into account the speed of pages in its ranking .
However, with the Webp, the sites have a nice advantage which can make them win a lot of places. It is therefore a safe bet that in a few years, it will become the number one format on the internet and that we will therefore have to live with it . But whether you want to download a Web type image or whether you already have several in your library, faced with this article, you now know how to react in order to be able to transform them into a more usual format.