To convert an image to WebP, open a converter in your browser, drop your files in, pick a quality around 75–80, and download. That’s the whole job — and it’s worth doing, because WebP files are 25–34% smaller than the same image as a JPG at equal quality, according to Google’s own compression study. In our test below, the savings at web-typical quality were even bigger.
This guide covers the 60-second conversion (no uploads, no software), the quality setting most people get wrong, and the honest numbers from our own test — including the one case where WebP barely beats JPG at all.
Table of contents
- What is WebP, in one paragraph
- How much smaller is WebP really? (our test)
- How to convert images to WebP in your browser
- Which quality setting should you pick?
- When you shouldn’t use WebP
- FAQ
What is WebP, in one paragraph
WebP is an image format Google released in 2010 that compresses photos harder than JPG and supports transparency and animation — things JPG can’t do in one file. Every current browser renders it (Can I Use puts support above 97%), and about a fifth of all websites already serve it, per W3Techs. It never replaced JPG outright because of slow platform adoption, but for anything you publish on the web in 2026, it’s the safe default: same visual quality, smaller file, faster page.
How much smaller is WebP really? (our test)
Most articles repeat Google’s “25–34% smaller” line and stop there. We wanted the real numbers at the quality levels people actually use, so we ran a test.
How we tested: on September 14, 2026, we took one 1600×1067 photograph and encoded the exact same pixels to PNG, JPEG and WebP in Chrome on Windows, at quality 90, 75 and 60. Nothing fancy — this is the same encoding any browser-based converter performs.
Here’s what came out:
| Format & quality | File size | vs JPEG at same quality |
|---|---|---|
| PNG (lossless) | 2,206 KB | — |
| WebP lossless | 1,086 KB | 51% smaller than PNG |
| JPEG q90 | 186 KB | — |
| WebP q90 | 178 KB | only 4% smaller |
| JPEG q75 | 151 KB | — |
| WebP q75 | 76 KB | 50% smaller |
| JPEG q60 | 130 KB | — |
| WebP q60 | 60 KB | 54% smaller |
Two honest findings most guides skip. First, at quality 90 WebP is barely smaller than JPEG — 178 KB vs 186 KB in our test. If your conversion promise is “smaller files” and you convert at q90, you’ll mostly be disappointed. Second, at quality 75 the gap explodes: WebP hit 76 KB where JPEG needed 151 KB, and this is the range where the two look identical to the eye for web viewing. The savings people promise from WebP are real — they just live at web quality levels, not at archival ones.
And WebP’s lossless mode quietly halves PNG size too (2,206 KB → 1,086 KB). If you’re storing screenshots or graphics where every pixel must survive, that’s a free win with zero quality debate.
How to convert images to WebP in your browser
The fastest way needs no installs and no account, and your photos never leave your device:
- Open the free Image to WebP converter.
- Drag your images in — JPG, PNG, GIF and BMP all work; batch them if you like.
- In the settings panel, set output quality (see the next section for the number to pick).
- Click convert and download. Everything runs locally in your browser, so there’s no upload wait and no privacy trade-off.
Because the conversion happens in your browser rather than on a server, a 20-photo batch is a few seconds, not a queue. If you need a different target format instead, the general Image Convert tool handles PNG, JPG, WebP, BMP and GIF in both directions.
Which quality setting should you pick?
Quality 75 is the setting I’d use for almost everything web-related, and our test shows why: it’s where WebP’s size advantage is largest (50% under JPEG) while the visual difference from quality 90 is invisible on a phone or laptop screen. Three rules cover the exceptions:
- Hero images and portfolio shots: q85–90. Large, closely inspected images earn the extra bytes — just know the file savings shrink dramatically at that level.
- Blog images, thumbnails, product grids: q70–80. Nobody zooms into a 600px-wide thumbnail. This is where WebP prints money.
- Anything with sharp text or logos: test q80–90, or keep PNG/WebP lossless. Lossy formats blur hard edges; if the graphic must stay pixel-crisp, lossless WebP halves the PNG size with no artifacts at all.
If your goal is simply “smaller photos” rather than a format switch, the Compress JPG tool does the same quality trade-off inside the JPG format — our compression guide shows what each level costs you.
When you shouldn’t use WebP
WebP is a web format, and three situations still call for something else:
Social media uploads. Instagram and Facebook want JPG or PNG — uploading WebP to them is unreliable, and their servers re-compress anyway. Convert to JPG first; the full settings are in our 2026 social media image sizes guide.
Print and professional handoffs. Print shops and stock agencies standardize on JPG/TIFF. A WebP file is more likely to bounce than to break anything.
Ancient software. Anyone still running IE11 or a pre-2014 program may see a broken image. For a public website the fix is a one-line <picture> fallback to JPG — but for email attachments or client files, just send JPG and skip the drama.
On phones it’s a non-issue: Safari has decoded WebP since iOS 14 (September 2020), and Chrome on Android has supported it for years.
FAQ
Is WebP better than JPG?
For the web, yes — it produces equal-looking photos at roughly half the file size at typical quality levels, plus it supports transparency and animation. It only loses to JPG in edge cases: printing, social platform uploads, and very old software.
Does converting an image to WebP reduce quality?
Converting at quality 90+ is visually indistinguishable from the original for web use; at 75 the difference exists but is essentially invisible on normal screens. The conversion is lossy (except WebP lossless mode, which keeps every pixel), so keep your original file — convert a copy.
Why is my WebP file not much smaller than the JPG?
Almost always the quality setting. Our test showed WebP at quality 90 was only 4% smaller than JPEG at the same level — the big savings (about 50%) appear at quality 70–80, where most web images should sit anyway. Re-convert at 75 and check.
Can iPhones and iPads open WebP?
Yes. Safari has supported WebP since iOS 14, released in September 2020. Any current iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android phone, or Windows/Chrome/Firefox/Edge browser will display WebP normally.
How do I convert WebP back to JPG?
The same way, in reverse: our Image to JPG tool takes WebP files and outputs JPG at your chosen quality. Useful when a form, print shop, or platform refuses WebP uploads.
Does WebP support transparency like PNG?
Yes — WebP lossless supports full alpha transparency, and lossy WebP supports it too, which is a genuine advantage over JPG. A logo on a transparent background can be WebP and stay see-through.
