How to Open a WebP File: Every OS and Browser

Every current browser, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, opens a WebP file the instant you drag it into a tab, no software required, on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, or iPhone alike. That is the complete answer to how to open a WebP file for almost anyone reading this. What follows covers native apps by platform, dedicated editors, and the one shortcut that looks like a fix but is not.

That covers the large majority of cases, and it is worth saying plainly, because people still assume WebP needs a special viewer downloaded from somewhere. It does not. This guide sits inside the WebP and AVIF hub, the deep dive on why the format exists and how much smaller it runs than JPEG or PNG. Below is every method that actually works, sorted by platform, plus what to do when an app still refuses the file outright.

How to Open a WebP File on Any Device

Google built WebP to work in the browser first, and browsers were the first place native support landed, years before any operating system caught up. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Opera all decode WebP with zero configuration: drag the file into an open tab, or right click it and choose Open With, then pick your browser. The image displays instantly, full resolution, no upload, no conversion, no plugin.

caniuse confirms every current version of every major desktop and mobile browser handles WebP, which is the reason this one method works regardless of what device you are holding. Past the browser, the fastest route depends on what you actually have installed. The table below is the short version; full steps for each platform, including the two gaps most guides skip, Linux and mobile, follow after it.

How Do You Open a WebP File on Windows?

Right click the file, choose Open with, and pick Paint or Photos, both of which read WebP natively on an updated Windows 10 or 11 machine. If neither one opens it, the machine is behind on updates rather than the file being broken.

Microsoft Paint

Paint has read and written WebP since 2023. Once the file is open, File then Save as lets you export it as a JPG, PNG, BMP, or GIF, which doubles as the fastest fix when some other program on the same machine still rejects WebP outright.

The Photos App

Double click the file on an updated machine and Photos opens it exactly like a JPG, no extra step. If double clicking does nothing, or throws an error, that is almost always Windows itself running behind rather than a corrupt file: native WebP support in both Paint and Photos is a 2023 addition, the same timeline already cited above, so a machine that has skipped updates for a year or more can genuinely lack it. Running Windows Update and trying again resolves most "Windows won't open my WebP" complaints, and it is worth checking before assuming anything is wrong with the file itself. If Windows Update is not an option right now, the browser method above still works on the same machine in the meantime, since Chrome and Edge do not depend on the OS-level codec that Paint and Photos need.

How Do You Open a WebP File on a Mac?

Double click it, or right click and choose Open With, then Preview. Preview handles WebP directly, and once the file is open, File then Export offers HEIC, JPEG, JPEG-2000, OpenEXR, PDF, PNG, or TIFF as save targets, so converting away from WebP takes one menu, no separate app.

The one Mac caveat worth knowing: the WebP support Preview relies on needs Safari 14 or later, which means macOS Big Sur (11) or newer. A Mac running an older OS can fail to display the file correctly, or show a generic file icon instead of a thumbnail, and the fix is the same as on Windows: update the operating system, not the file. One extra shortcut worth knowing on a current Mac: select the WebP file in Finder and tap the space bar, and Quick Look previews it full screen using the same decoder as Preview, without opening any app at all, which is the fastest way to confirm a file is valid before deciding what to do with it.

When Should You Convert a WebP Instead of Just Opening It?

Once you can view the file, you often still need it in a different format, usually because an upload form, an older piece of software, or a print shop's intake system rejects WebP outright even though your own machine opens it fine. Paint's Save as and Preview's Export both handle that locally, with no upload, but they mean opening an editor for a single file.

The WebP to JPG converter on this site does the same job in a browser tab when you would rather skip the editor, or need to convert several files at once: drop the WebP in, pick JPG, and download a file almost anything else on earth will accept. It runs the same pipeline that compresses images across this site, just pointed at a format change instead of a size reduction.

Does Renaming a .webp File to .jpg Actually Work?

No. Renaming a file from .webp to .jpg changes only the extension your file system displays, not the compressed pixel data stored inside it. A JPG decoder expects JPG-structured bytes, and a renamed WebP file does not have them, so the result either fails to open outright or displays as a corrupted, scrambled image in software that trusts the extension over the actual content.

The trick works, sort of, in exactly one narrow case: tricking an older browser or a very permissive image-viewing website into attempting to display a file it would otherwise refuse based on the extension alone, because some tools read the actual file header instead of trusting the name. Treat that as a workaround for one specific piece of software, never as a real conversion. Paint's Save as, Preview's Export, or a real converter all genuinely re-encode the pixel data into the new format, which is the only way to get a file that is actually a JPG rather than a WebP wearing a JPG's name.

How Do You Open a WebP File on Linux?

Most current Linux desktops show a WebP file the same way they show a JPG: open the file manager, and a thumbnail and full preview appear without installing anything, because the underlying image-loading library most desktop environments share has supported the format for years. GIMP is the reliable fallback for anything beyond viewing: GIMP has read and written WebP natively since 2018, longer than every other editor except IrfanView (the same support timeline cited above), so it opens, edits, and exports WebP files the same way it handles any other image format, on any distribution that runs GIMP at all.

On GNOME-based distributions that usually means the default Image Viewer or Files app preview pane, and on KDE it means Gwenview, both of which lean on the same shared image-loading library rather than their own separate WebP code, which is why support tends to arrive system-wide instead of app by app on Linux. If a specific file manager or older distribution genuinely does not preview WebP, the browser method from earlier still applies: Linux versions of Chrome and Firefox decode WebP exactly like their Windows and Mac counterparts, since the browser engine, not the operating system, is doing the work.

Can You Open a WebP File on Android?

Yes, the same way as a desktop: any current mobile browser, Chrome or Samsung Internet, decodes WebP natively, the same per-browser support confirmed above, and most Android Gallery and Photos apps display it as a normal photo already, because Android's own image framework has handled WebP at the system level for years, not just inside a browser tab.

Where phones get inconsistent is a WebP that arrives through a download link, a saved attachment, or a file share rather than through the camera itself: search open webp file on android and most results just say "use Chrome," which is true but incomplete, since the file manager's own preview usually works too. If a specific app's built-in viewer genuinely will not open it, opening the file from a browser, or from the Files app's Open With menu, is the reliable fallback on any current phone.

Can You Open a WebP File on an iPhone or iPad?

Yes: Safari on iOS and iPadOS renders WebP the same way Safari on a Mac does, the same Safari-version requirement already noted for the Mac carries over here since it is the same rendering engine, so opening a WebP saved to the Files app, or received in Mail or Messages, works by tapping it and letting Safari or the Files app's own preview take over.

If a specific app's own viewer refuses the file, sharing it into Safari or the Files app is the reliable fallback rather than fighting an app that will not display it. That mirrors the Android case: the browser engine, not the app you happened to open the file in, is doing the actual decoding.

How Do You Open a WebP File in an Image Editor?

Most software built or refreshed in the last few years handles WebP without complaint. If yours does not, one of the widely used image editors almost certainly will, and how long each one has supported the format says something real about how the ecosystem caught up. Photoshop, Illustrator, and the editors below have each added native WebP support at a different point since 2011 (support-since dates already cited above), and the gap between the earliest and the most recent is more than a decade.

The pattern matters more than any single row: small, dedicated viewers picked up WebP support close to a decade before the big professional suites did, since a lightweight viewer only has to update its own codec library, while a suite like Photoshop ships WebP as one format among dozens on a slower release cycle. If you are troubleshooting an old install of any app on that list, checking whether your copy predates its listed year usually explains the failure faster than anything else.

Why Won't My WebP File Open?

Almost always one of three things: the app is genuinely too old to support WebP, the operating system itself is behind on updates, or the file downloaded incompletely and is not a valid WebP at all. Work through them in that order.

Test the File in a Browser First

Confirm the file opens somewhere else; any current browser is the fastest test. If it opens in Chrome but nowhere else, the problem is the other app or OS, not the file. If a webp file won't open in any browser either, check the file size first: a file that shows 0 KB, or noticeably smaller than it should be, almost always means the download stopped partway through. Save a fresh copy in that case: interrupted downloads and files re-saved by unrelated software are the most common reason a WebP is corrupted rather than merely unsupported.

Check Whether the App Itself Is Out of Date

If the browser test passes but your regular app still fails, that app is out of date for WebP specifically. Windows Paint and Photos, GIMP, Photoshop, and every other editor above have documented years they added support: an app older than its listed year will not open the file no matter what you do to the file itself. Update the app, or the OS it ships with, before troubleshooting further.

Rule Out a Corrupted File

If everything above checks out and the file still will not open anywhere, treat the file itself as suspect. Re-download it, ask whoever sent it for a fresh copy, or run it through a genuine converter, which will surface a clear error rather than a silent failure if the file itself is not valid WebP data.