WebP Isn't the Villain

hamasaki — Mon, 18 May 2026 16:18:34 +0000

Let's talk about WebP. Google created it back in 2010 with a dead-simple goal: make image files smaller without losing quality. And honestly, it works flawlessly.

A lossy WebP is about 25% to 35% smaller than a JPEG. A lossless WebP is way smaller than a PNG. It supports transparency. It supports animation. It’s basically the ultimate Swiss Army knife of image formats.

But then you download an image from Google Images, and it saves as a .webp. You try to drop it into MS Paint... nothing. You drag it into Photoshop (depending on the version)... error. Clip Studio Paint? Nope. Figma? Sure, it opens, but sometimes it glitches out out of nowhere.

The internet's collective rage is perfectly summarized by this classic copypasta:

THE CLASSIC:

"Why is this a webp?! I hate webp! Just give me a png, please. MS Paint won't open a webp. Photoshop won't open a webp. Clip Studio Paint won't open a webp. I have to google 'webp to png converter' and pray it keeps transparency. I hate it."

The pain is real. I get it. But the fault lies with sluggish software that refuses to update, not with a format that actually evolved. (¬_¬)

WebP is technically superior.

Let’s look at the facts. WebP uses much more modern compression algorithms than JPEG and PNG. It gives you:

Better lossy compression than JPEG: Way smaller files, same visual quality.

Better lossless compression than PNG: Perfect transparency at a fraction of the file size.

Animation support: Like a GIF, but way smaller and without that terrible 256-color limit.

8-bit Alpha Channel: Smooth, beautiful transparency gradients, not just binary (on/off) transparency.

If the entire web fully embraced WebP, websites would load faster, apps would consume less data, and servers would save massive amounts of bandwidth. It’s a win-win for everyone.

But no. We still prefer to manually convert things back to PNG and send a 3x larger file over Discord or WhatsApp. Why? Because the software opens it. ¯(ツ)/¯

The Creator’s Response

There’s a famous tweet floating around where someone said, "I hope the inventor of WebP gets run over by a bus." The creator of the format casually replied: "I invented the WebP lossless format in 2011."

It feels a bit smug, right? But at the same time, I completely get him. The guy built a genuinely great piece of technology, and the whole world decided to hate his guts because Windows 7 Paint couldn't open it. (T_T)

If WebP had been invented in 1995 and everyone had 30 years to implement it, things would be different. The blame for the lack of adoption lies squarely on Microsoft, Adobe, Corel, and every other company that took an absolute eternity to roll out decent native support.

Things are finally getting better

Fast forward to today, and support is actually pretty solid. Windows 11 Paint opens WebP natively. The latest Photoshop CC handles it. Every major browser supports it. Even FFmpeg deals with animated WebP like a champ. Yet, the reputation of being a "bothersome format" stuck around.

It’s completely unfair. Imagine if we hated MP4 because Windows Media Player back in 2004 couldn't play it. Or if we hated PDF because some old, crusty reader crashed. We would blame the software, not the format. With WebP, we do the exact opposite. (⌐■_■)

What really pisses me off is when a site serves a WebP for download, and a regular user just can't use it for their everyday stuff. It's not their fault. They just want to open a picture. The ecosystem failed them.

So, what's the solution?

The solution isn't to retreat back to PNG and JPEG forever. It’s to demand that the software we use supports modern formats. Microsoft, Adobe, Affinity, Corel—all of them. WebP is over 15 years old now. It’s not a niche, experimental thing anymore.

And if you are a web dev, serve WebP to the browser but always provide a fallback. HTML has the tag specifically to solve this exact headache. Don’t force a user to download a format they might struggle to open in their favorite desktop app if they hit "Save Image As".

Look, WebP doesn't deserve the hate. It just wanted to make the web lighter and prettier. The blame lies on Photoshop and friends, who took too long to give it some love.

Sorry, WebP. We treated you poorly. (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

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DEV Community: hamasaki

WebP Isn't the Villain