WebP Image Extensions 1.2.31.0

A .webp file lands in your Downloads folder, you double-click it, and Windows either shows a blank icon or offers to search the Store for an app that can open it.

That is the gap this small Microsoft package fills.

WebP Image Extensions is Microsoft's own decoder for the WebP format, and once it is installed, File Explorer draws thumbnails and the Photos app opens the files like any JPEG.

First, Check Whether You Already Have It

Most current Windows 10 and Windows 11 installs already carry this decoder, which is why a fair number of people install it and see no difference at all.

The test takes five seconds. Double-click any .webp file, and if Photos displays it, you are done - nothing here will improve on that.

Install it when the answer is no: blank thumbnails in File Explorer, a format error in Photos, or a machine where the built-in apps were stripped out, which is common on Windows LTSC, debloated installs and locked-down work laptops.

For the longer version of that check, viewing WebP files on Windows walks through each way the format can be opened, extension or not.

What the Extension Actually Does

It registers a WebP decoder with Windows Imaging Component, which is the part of Windows that every built-in app asks when it needs to turn an image file into pixels on screen.

In practice that means three things: thumbnails in File Explorer, viewing in Photos, and WebP support in other apps that lean on Windows to do their image decoding for them.

It handles both flavours of the format, the lossy one that competes with JPEG and the lossless one that competes with PNG, plus WebP files with transparency.

Microsoft lists it in the Store as WebP Image Extension, singular, if you go looking for it there.

What It Does Not Do

This is where the one-star reviews come from, so it is worth being blunt about the limits.

It does not add WebP to programs that bring their own image code. Photoshop, most third-party editors and a lot of older software will still refuse WebP after you install it, because they never ask Windows in the first place.

For Photoshop specifically, recent versions read and write WebP natively, and the guide to opening WebP files in Photoshop covers the plugin route for older releases.

It also does not convert anything, and it does not let you save as WebP. It is a decoder, nothing more.

Saving edits as WebP is coming to Windows 11 another way: the rebuilt Photo Viewer can edit WebP and HEIC files and keep their original format, as our news story on the Windows 11 Photos redesign explains.

How to Install It

1. Close Photos and File Explorer. Shut any window showing the folder of WebP files before you install.
2. Install the package. Double-click the AppxBundle from our download page, or use the Microsoft Store link there, which is the smoother route on a PC that has the Store.
3. Reopen File Explorer. Browse to a folder of WebP images, and thumbnails should appear straight away.
4. Sign out and back in if they do not. That makes Explorer rebuild its thumbnail cache.

On machines with no Store access the extension has to be sideloaded, and this is the step that fails most often, because the installer also needs the matching Microsoft framework dependency packages present. If it refuses to install with a vague error, that missing dependency is almost always the reason.

When You Would Rather Skip the Extension

Every one of these viewers opens WebP on its own, no Windows extension involved, and each is a full replacement for Photos.

• ImageGlass - the closest thing to a modern Photos replacement, opens WebP, AVIF and HEIC out of the box.
• IrfanView - tiny, decades old, still the fastest way to page through a folder of images.
• XnView MP - viewer and light manager in one, handles several hundred formats.
• nomacs - clean and open source, good at comparing two images side by side.
• FastStone Image Viewer - viewer with basic editing and batch tools attached.
• JPEGView - portable, opens instantly, no install needed.

If you would rather keep the built-in app, the Microsoft Photos page covers reinstalling it when it has gone missing or stopped launching.

Editing and Converting WebP Files

Viewing is one problem, editing is another, and the extension does not help with the second.

GIMP opens and exports WebP directly, including the quality and lossless settings, and Paint.NET does the same with a lighter interface if you only need quick edits.

For a folder full of files at once, XnConvert and Converseen both batch-convert WebP to JPEG or PNG with resizing in the same pass.

For one or two files without installing anything, convert WebP to JPEG or go the other way and convert JPEG to WebP in the browser.

What WebP Is, Briefly

WebP is an image format Google released to replace JPEG and PNG with something smaller, and the reason you keep running into it is that most of the web now serves images this way.

Save an image from a site and you get a .webp file, whether you wanted one or not. That is the whole story behind the format turning up in your Downloads folder.

It is not the only one competing for that job. AVIF compresses harder than WebP at the same quality, which is why newer sites are starting to serve that instead.

If security is on your mind, the 2023 WebP decoder flaw is a reminder that keeping image decoders patched matters as much as keeping the browser patched.

The Other Windows Format Extensions

WebP is one of a small family of add-on decoders Microsoft ships separately from Windows.

HEIF Image Extensions does the same job for the .heic photos an iPhone produces, and the HEIF viewing guide walks through the setup.

HEIC Image Extension covers the same iPhone photos and explains the HEVC decoder they also need, which the free HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer supplies.

Raw Image Extension covers camera raw files such as CR2, NEF and ARW, and HEVC Video Extension is the video-side equivalent for H.265 clips.

For AVIF the situation is closer to WebP's: viewing AVIF on Windows explains what current builds handle by themselves, and libavif supplies the reference tools for anyone who needs to encode it.

If one of these extensions ever starts causing more trouble than it solves, removing them cleanly is straightforward once you know where Windows keeps them.

Still stuck on a file that refuses to open, image or video, the Codec Finder identifies what a file actually contains and points you at the decoder it needs.

Quick Questions

Download WebP Image Extensions 1.2.31.0 and see whether your .webp files open, or tell us how you got on if you have used it before.