How to use WebP to PNG
- Choose a WebP image.
- Select Convert to PNG.
- Preview and download the PNG copy.
Useful to know
PNG keeps transparency and is lossless, so a photographic WebP will usually grow noticeably when converted.
How to convert a WebP file to a PNG
- Bring the WebP into the workspace. If it is animated, only the frame this browser decodes will be used. The cap is one file of 25 MB and 40 megapixels, handled on this device.
- Leave the controls as they are. There is no quality number and no fill colour, because the export is a PNG of the decoded pixels and their alpha.
- Press Convert to PNG and wait for the preview. Encoding happens in this tab.
- Note the dimensions and the byte size on the result, then download. Expect a photograph to grow. Frames after the first one are absent.
A PNG is the still file an older editor will open
The WebP on your machine is usually there because a website, an image host or a design export chose it. Browsers display it. Google’s own properties and a large share of the public web prefer it for delivery: a WebP photograph is commonly lighter than the JPG or PNG it was derived from, and a graphic can keep a clear background while it travels. That is a good deal for a page load. It is a poor deal the moment the file has to open in an editor, a print queue, a slide tool or an upload form that has never heard of WebP. A PNG is the copy that keeps the decoded pixels and the transparency, and that those tools already accept.
This page writes that PNG in the browser. There is no quality slider, because the PNG is stored losslessly, and there is no background colour, because the canvas is not filled in before the image is drawn. The button reads Convert to PNG. The WebP stays on your device. Image Cosmos does not receive it.
Lossy WebP and lossless WebP are different masters
WebP has two compression modes, and the filename does not say which one you saved. A lossless WebP keeps the samples it was given, and it can include an alpha channel. A lossy WebP discards fine detail so the file can stay small, and it can still carry transparency on top of that. Animation is a third ability, separate from either mode. One .webp can be any combination the encoder chose. Google introduced the format so sites could serve one container that covered photographs, transparent graphics and short animations, which is why a single download can surprise you in three different ways.
The PNG from this page is lossless relative to the pixels the browser decoded. If the WebP was lossless, the PNG is a faithful still of that picture. You can crop it, add a label and save PNG again without stacking a JPG-style pass on top. If the WebP was lossy, the missing texture is already in the pixels. The PNG holds that decoded picture exactly, softness included. Opening it in an editor will not bring the discarded detail back. The word lossless, on this page, means the new file will not damage those pixels any further.
Logos and photographs want opposite decisions. A lossless WebP of a logo, an icon or a screenshot is a strong candidate for PNG, because the hard edges are still there and an editor can work on them. A lossy WebP of a holiday photo becomes a large PNG of a picture that was already a delivery file. Make the PNG when an app demanded PNG. When you only need something a photo lab or an old copy of Word can open, the WebP to JPG converter writes the smaller lossy copy and paints any clear pixels onto a background colour.
Transparency stays, including the soft edges
PNG carries an alpha channel and this conversion uses it. Fully clear pixels stay clear. Partly clear pixels stay partly clear, so a feathered hairline, a soft shadow or a glow around a mark is still a glow. You can see that in the preview: the original and the result can both sit on the checkerboard. There is no colour control to change, because nothing is painted underneath the WebP before it is drawn.
The checkerboard is only a preview. It is not stored in the download. Open the PNG in software that understands transparency and the clear regions should still be clear. A program that then shows a white rectangle behind the artwork is compositing the PNG onto white for display. The alpha remains in the file. Flattening is a different conversion, on the JPG page, and it is permanent in that JPG. Do it when the destination refuses PNG. Leave it alone when the clear plate is the asset.
A cut-out that was never in the WebP will not appear here. This page does not remove a background. A photograph of a product on a white sweep becomes a PNG of that same sweep. Transparency is carried across when the WebP contains it. A busy studio background stays a busy studio background.
Animation stops at the first frame
A looping WebP plays in a browser, and a genuine WhatsApp sticker plays inside WhatsApp. This converter produces neither a sticker nor an animated PNG. It asks the browser for one decoded frame and encodes that frame. Chrome, Edge and Firefox, as they behave today, hand over the opening frame. Every frame after it is ignored. The download is a still PNG at the width and height reported for that frame.
Some animations put a complete picture in frame one. The PNG then looks like the start of the loop, which is what most people want for a slide or a thumbnail. Other animations store frame one as a partial update and leave the rest of the canvas empty, relying on the following frames to fill the picture in. The PNG shows that partial frame, including any clear area frame one left behind. This page does not replay the loop to bake a finished still. If the preview looks incomplete, keep the WebP. If you need the motion itself, this is the wrong tool. Image Cosmos does not export GIF, APNG or video.
The PNG is allowed to be larger
PNG writes the decoded samples without a lossy pass, so a photographic WebP usually grows, and the growth can be wide. A small lossless icon may grow only a little. An icon with soft, partly transparent edges can grow more than its WebP size suggests, once the browser’s PNG encoder has stored the alpha channel. No single multiplier is honest for every file. The result line shows the width, the height and the byte size of the PNG you are about to save. Use that figure.
The growth is a reason to pause. If the next stop is an email limit or a form with a tight byte budget, a photographic PNG often misses that budget even when the receiving app understands PNG. Convert to JPG, then use the image compressor if the form’s limit is still too low. When the brief states exact pixels, set them on the image resizer before you return, so the PNG is not a lossless copy of a canvas you are about to shrink. Need to trim afterwards? The crop page takes X, Y, width and height and can save that crop as PNG, so the trim does not add a lossy encode.
Putting the PNG back on the web as a photograph is usually a step in the wrong direction for file size. Once the edit is finished, PNG to WebP returns a transparent graphic to a compact delivery file. JPG to WebP is the matching step for a photograph. Keep the PNG, or the original WebP when that WebP was lossless, as the file you return to. The WebP you export for the website is a copy for the page, not the only master.
What the PNG keeps from the WebP
| What the WebP contains | What this PNG does with it |
|---|---|
| Fully clear and partly clear pixels | Kept. This page does not paint a background under the image. |
| A lossless WebP | The decoded picture is written losslessly. Later PNG saves do not add a lossy pass. |
| A lossy WebP | The decoded picture, including damage already in the WebP. Missing detail stays missing. |
| An animation | The first decoded frame only. The PNG does not loop and is not an animated PNG of the sticker. |
| A photograph’s file size | Usually larger, sometimes by a wide margin. The result line is the size that counts. |
One file, on this device
The limit is one image, 25 MB and 40 megapixels. The drop zone also accepts JPG and PNG, and the button on this page still writes a PNG. There is no batch list and no zip. Colour can move a little if the WebP relied on a profile the browser applies while decoding. Compare the PNG with the WebP on the display you will print or present from, rather than trusting a thumbnail. Tags that sat beside the picture, such as a camera model or a map pin, are not part of the pixels this page encodes. The EXIF remover is the separate page that checks a finished file for the common metadata blocks. Anything you can see in the picture, including a face or a printed address, is still in the PNG.
Close the tab when you finish on a shared computer. The preview stays in the tab’s memory until you do. Keep the WebP until you have opened the PNG in the app that asked for it and confirmed both the transparency and the frame.
Related image tools
Frequently asked questions
Which apps still need a PNG when the file I saved is a WebP?
Older image editors, some print workflows, slide tools on a fixed Office release, and upload forms whose allow-list is PNG and JPG. Photoshop from version 23.2 onward opens WebP itself. Earlier Photoshop needed a plug-in, and a PNG opens in those versions as well as in current ones. Choose PNG when you will keep editing or when the artwork has transparency. Choose JPG when the destination asked for a photograph and a clear background is irrelevant.
Are soft edges and partial transparency kept in the PNG?
Yes. Fully clear pixels stay clear, and pixels that were only partly transparent stay partly transparent. This page has no background colour, so nothing is flattened onto white. The checkerboard in the preview is a viewing aid and is not written into the file. If another program shows a white box behind the logo, it is displaying the PNG against white. The alpha channel is still in the PNG.
How much bigger should I expect the PNG to be?
For a photograph, expect a clear increase, sometimes a large one, because PNG stores the decoded pixels without a lossy pass. A small flat icon may grow less, and an icon with a lot of partial transparency can grow more than its WebP size suggests. There is no fixed multiplier. The result line shows the actual file size before you download. If that size breaks an email or a form, a JPG is the more suitable copy.
If the WebP was lossy, what does a lossless PNG actually keep?
It keeps the pixels the browser decoded, including softness or blocks the lossy WebP already contained. It avoids a further lossy save. It does not restore texture the WebP had already thrown away. A lossless WebP is the case where the PNG is a faithful still you can edit and save again as PNG. This page does not label which WebP mode you started with. Compare the preview with the original at a large size.
Can this page turn an animated WebP sticker into an animated PNG?
No. You get one still PNG of the frame the browser decodes. On Chrome, Edge and Firefox today, that frame is the opening frame of the file. The other frames are dropped. The download is not an APNG and it is not a WhatsApp sticker. If frame one is only a partial update, the PNG can look unfinished, because this page does not replay the loop. Keep the animated WebP when the motion is the point.
When would a JPG be the file the form actually wanted?
When the form says JPG, when you are sending a photograph with no transparency, or when the PNG has grown past a size cap. The WebP to JPG page paints clear pixels onto a background colour and writes a lossy file at a quality you choose. Stay here when the clear background, or a still you can edit without another lossy pass, is why you converted.
Is a WebP just a PNG with a different extension?
No. Renaming either file does not convert it. WebP is a separate container. It can be lossy or lossless, it can include an alpha channel, and it can include an animation. PNG is a still image, stored losslessly, with its own alpha channel. The two can show a similar picture. They are not the same bytes, and an app that accepts one can reject the other. This page writes a real PNG from the decoded pixels.