If you have been online for a few years now, you have probably 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, especially because it allows you to put much smaller files than if they were classic types such as 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 for good navigation. Moreover, this is their main use. Since then, when you go to open a basic Webp file that you have just downloaded, it will open a web page for you, the page from which you downloaded this image to be completely 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 you let a site work for you. The only thing left for you to do, it is to determine what format you want as 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 process, it will take you many minutes, or 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 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, the goal here will be quite simple. Once you are faced with 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 PC Windows.
You will then see that even if the image is of type .webp, Paint is fully capable of opening it. Yes, but then, how convert to 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 voilà, you will now have the option of being able to easily open it in a completely new format.
Use an extension on Chrome to avoid Webp
Until now, we have seen the scenario where you have already downloaded an image in Webp format because if you have landed here, it is surely that this is indeed the case. So, this last piece of advice will be very useful to you in the future. Indeed, if you use Google Chrome like a large part of the population, you surely know that there are extensions on this browser. Well, go to the store and download theextension Save image as PNG.
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
There you go, you now know how to deal with the Webp problem which is expected to continue to get worse in the years to come. Indeed, Google factors page speed into its rankings.
However, with Webp, sites have a great advantage which can save them a lot of places. It is therefore a safe bet that within a few years, it has become the number one format on the internet and therefore has to be lived with. 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.