If you are using Google Chrome while visiting Google specific websites like Google Play Store, you will notice that all the images in those websites are in WEBP format. i.e, not in widely known formats like JPG or PNG. According to Google, the new webp format greatly reduces the image size without sacrificing image quality when compared to jpg and png formats.
When you try to save those images in Google Chrome, they will be saved as webp images. You cannot save them in regular and well-known image formats. However, this specific image format is exclusive to Google Chrome. So, if you visit the same website in any other browser, you will see the images in regular formats like png and jpg.
Avoid Saving Images in WEBP Format in Google Chrome
The problem is, when you save an image in webp format, most image viewers installed on your system are not equipped to show the images in this format. When you try to open those images, they will be opened in Google Chrome. Which is not the most desired way to view images. Not to mention, you cannot use webp images in other programs. If you want to use webp images in your system or in any other program, you have to manually convert webp to png or webp to jpg.
Save WEBP Images As PNG or JPG
So, to solve this issue here’s how to save webp images in png format in Google Chrome. There are multiple ways to save webp images as png or jpg. I will show you all three methods, follow the method you are comfortable with.
Method 1: Modify the Image URL
1. Since webp images are exclusively used on Google-specific websites, one of the easiest ways to save webp images as png is to modify the image URL. To do that, right-click on the image and select the option “Open image in new tab“.
2. The above action will open the image in a new tab. As you can guess, it is in webp format. Now, click on the address bar and remove the last three characters “-rw” of the URL and press the enter button.
3. This action will reload the image either in jpg or png format. Simply right-click on the image and select the option “Save image as“. Now you can save the image either in jpg or png format.
Method 2: Save WEBP as PNG Using Extension
If you have a lot of images to save or just want a more sophisticated way to save webp images as png or jpg then you can use a free Chrome extension.
1. To start off, head over to Chrome web store and install Save image as PNG extension.
2. After installing, right-click on any webp image and select the option “Save image as PNG” and the image will be saved as a png rather than in webp format.
Method 3: Use Another Browser
If you don’t like to use an extension and the URL method is not working for some reason, you can use this method.
Generally, this method works 100 percent of the time. This is because, since most browsers don’t support webp images, they fall back to jpg or png images when you visit Google specific websites from other browsers like Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera, etc.
So, simply open the webp image website using any other browser besides Google Chrome, right-click on the image and select the option “Save image as“.
You should be able to save the image in jpg or png format.
That’s all there is to do and it is that simple to avoid saving images in webp format. Do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above method save webp images in png or jpg format in Google Chrome.