WebP

WebP Image

image/webp Released 2010 · by Google

WebP is a modern image format developed by Google that provides superior lossy and lossless compression for web images, with full support for transparency and animation — at smaller file sizes than JPEG or PNG.

Web Transparency Animation Production Ready

Technical Specifications

MIME Type

image/webp

Extensions

.webp

Container

RIFF

Compression

Lossy & Lossless

Algorithms

VP8VP8L

Color Depth

8-bit

Metadata

EXIF XMP ICC

Capabilities

Transparency

Animation

Progressive Loading

Alpha Channel

HDR Support

Official Specification

Aliases: image/x-webp

Magic Bytes & HTTP Headers

File Signature (Magic Bytes)

52 49 46 46 XX XX XX XX 57 45 42 50

ASCII: RIFF....WEBP

HTTP Headers

Content-Type: image/webp

HTML Accept Attribute

accept="image/webp"

Browser Support Matrix

Browser	Status	Min Version
Chrome	Supported	32+
Firefox	Supported	65+
Safari	Supported	14+
Edge	Supported	18+
Internet Explorer	Not Supported	Legacy

Advantages & Limitations

Advantages

Superior lossy compression — 25–35% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality
Supports both animation and full alpha transparency
Lossless mode available with smaller file sizes than PNG

Limitations

Slower encoding than JPEG, especially for lossless
Not supported in Internet Explorer or very old browsers

Developer Code Snippets

import imghdr
print(imghdr.what('file.webp')) # Outputs 'webp'

const FileType = require('file-type');
const type = await FileType.fromFile('file.webp');
console.log(type.mime); // image/webp

import "net/http"

mimeType := http.DetectContentType(fileBytes)
fmt.Println(mimeType) // image/webp

$mime = mime_content_type('file.webp');
echo $mime; // image/webp

File Detection Steps

How to programmatically detect a image/webp file by reading its raw bytes:

1 Check bytes 0–3 for RIFF signature (52 49 46 46)
2 Check bytes 8–11 for WEBP marker (57 45 42 50)

Software Support

A

Adobe Photoshop

GIMP

ImageMagick

F

Figma

C

Canva

Squoosh

W

Windows 11 Photos

Conversion Tools

Convert WebP to →

WebP PNG

Convert to WebP from ←

JPEG WebP PNG WebP GIF WebP

Share & Embed

Markdown Badge

[![WebP Format](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/webp/badge.svg)](https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/webp)

Interactive iframe Widget

<iframe src="https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/webp/embed" width="100%" height="280" style="border:1px solid #cbd5e1;border-radius:8px;" title="WebP Specs"></iframe>

JSON API

All data on this page is available as a free, open JSON API. Use it in your project, documentation, or tooling.

GET https://freewebptojpg.com/mime/image/webp.json Open JSON

Free to use

No auth required

CORS enabled

Use from any domain

Cached 24h

Cache-Control headers set

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the magic byte for WebP?

The magic bytes for WebP are 52 49 46 46 (RIFF) followed by 57 45 42 50 (WEBP). The full signature is RIFF....WEBP.

Does WebP support transparency?

Yes, WebP supports full alpha channel transparency in both lossy and lossless modes.

Which browsers support WebP?

WebP is supported in Chrome 32+, Firefox 65+, Safari 14+, and Edge 18+. Internet Explorer does not support WebP.