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The article only briefly mentions the real problem: outside of browsers, proper support for .webp files is very, very low. That's why JPEG is still king and pro

The article only briefly mentions the real problem: outside of browsers, proper support for .webp files is very, very low. That's why JPEG is still king and probably still be for a long time.

Acrobatic_Road 1y ago
Also missing from popular browsers is support for the new JPEG XL format.
- pbhjpbhj 1y ago
  https://caniuse.com/jpegxl https://caniuse.com/jpegxl Looks like a mixture of runtime and compiler flags are needed except for Safari.
nemomarx 1y ago
if I want to even download webp and look at the file I need to convert it. barely functional in basic image galleries outside of mobile?
- k__ 1y ago
  Sometimes you upload a jpeg, they convert it to webp, and then don't allow uploading webps.
  - palmfacehn 1y ago
    I had uploaded lossless webp images, the 3rd party site cached the images from my server and re-encoded them as lossy format of a higher file size and lower fidelity.
    - edflsafoiewq 1y ago
      They'll do that to large PNGs too.
- throawayonthe 1y ago
  in software made in the past decade? seems unlikely
AshleysBrain 1y ago
WebP seems pretty widely supported to me - on Windows at least, Explorer shows thumbnails for them, Paint can open them, other editors like Paint.NET have built-in support... I haven't come across software that doesn't support WebP for a while.
- jhoechtl 1y ago
  Right so on Linux/KDE. Is missing WebP support a meme?
  - freedomben 1y ago
    Yep, on Gnome we have both eog and GIMP that support webp completely, and have for many years. I don't think I've even tried with other apps but haven't needed to. I didn't even realize this was a problem for some platforms
- frollogaston 1y ago
  Google Docs, of all things, does not support webp. Preview on Mac can open it but not edit. Those are my two most common use cases.
  - coryrc 1y ago
    I celebrated the anniversary of the (internal) bug asking for SVG support in Google slides. I think it's up to 15 years now? So, uh, don't get your hopes up.
    - frollogaston 1y ago
      Well SVGs I understand being harder to support, those aren't really images. And various anti-injection security rules treat it as untrusted HTML code.
      - pimlottc 1y ago
        There is a workaround for using SVG in Google Slides by using Google Drive to convert to EMF (a format I’ve never heard of anywhere else). It’s a pain, though. https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/115814/how-can-i-import-a-vector-drawing-into-google-slides https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/115814/how...
CM30 1y ago
Case in point, DaVinci Resolve. Incredibly popular with people creating videos for YouTube and TikTok, still doesn't support webp in 2025. This becomes an issue if you're creating content about trending topics, since lots of marketing sites love using webp for every image.

The article only briefly mentions the real problem: outside of browsers, proper support for .webp files is very, very low. That's why JPEG is still king and probably still be for a long time.

Acrobatic_Road 1y ago

Also missing from popular browsers is support for the new JPEG XL format.

pbhjpbhj 1y ago
https://caniuse.com/jpegxl https://caniuse.com/jpegxl Looks like a mixture of runtime and compiler flags are needed except for Safari.

nemomarx 1y ago

if I want to even download webp and look at the file I need to convert it. barely functional in basic image galleries outside of mobile?

k__ 1y ago
Sometimes you upload a jpeg, they convert it to webp, and then don't allow uploading webps.
- palmfacehn 1y ago
  I had uploaded lossless webp images, the 3rd party site cached the images from my server and re-encoded them as lossy format of a higher file size and lower fidelity.
  - edflsafoiewq 1y ago
    They'll do that to large PNGs too.
throawayonthe 1y ago
in software made in the past decade? seems unlikely

AshleysBrain 1y ago

WebP seems pretty widely supported to me - on Windows at least, Explorer shows thumbnails for them, Paint can open them, other editors like Paint.NET have built-in support... I haven't come across software that doesn't support WebP for a while.

jhoechtl 1y ago
Right so on Linux/KDE. Is missing WebP support a meme?
- freedomben 1y ago
  Yep, on Gnome we have both eog and GIMP that support webp completely, and have for many years. I don't think I've even tried with other apps but haven't needed to. I didn't even realize this was a problem for some platforms
frollogaston 1y ago
Google Docs, of all things, does not support webp. Preview on Mac can open it but not edit. Those are my two most common use cases.
- coryrc 1y ago
  I celebrated the anniversary of the (internal) bug asking for SVG support in Google slides. I think it's up to 15 years now? So, uh, don't get your hopes up.
  - frollogaston 1y ago
    Well SVGs I understand being harder to support, those aren't really images. And various anti-injection security rules treat it as untrusted HTML code.
    - pimlottc 1y ago
      There is a workaround for using SVG in Google Slides by using Google Drive to convert to EMF (a format I’ve never heard of anywhere else). It’s a pain, though. https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/115814/how-can-i-import-a-vector-drawing-into-google-slides https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/115814/how...

CM30 1y ago

Case in point, DaVinci Resolve. Incredibly popular with people creating videos for YouTube and TikTok, still doesn't support webp in 2025. This becomes an issue if you're creating content about trending topics, since lots of marketing sites love using webp for every image.