Windows 10 and Windows 11 can open WebP files in several built-in apps, but compatibility is inconsistent across older Windows versions, older Office releases, and the long tail of third-party software that many people still rely on at work.
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Windows has built WebP support into different components across versions, which is why the same file behaves so differently depending on which app you try to open it in. In Windows 10, WebP support arrived through Microsoft Edge, which has been based on Chromium since 2020 and handles WebP natively as part of the underlying browser engine, and through the updated Photos app available via Windows Update. The legacy Windows Photo Viewer, the older viewer present in Windows 7 and carried forward into Windows 10 as a fallback, does not support WebP because it relies on Windows Imaging Component (WIC) codecs, and the WIC WebP codec was not included in base Windows 10 installations by default. Power users could install the free WebP Image Extensions package from the Microsoft Store to add WIC-level support, but most ordinary users never knew about that step and so encountered WebP errors regularly.
Windows 11 improved the situation significantly. The built-in Photos app handles WebP without any extensions installed, and the updated Paint application, fully redesigned in 2023, also supports opening WebP files for basic editing, cropping, and re-saving in other formats. Microsoft Edge on Windows 11 supports WebP as expected, as do Chrome, Firefox, Brave, and Opera. The main remaining gaps in Windows 11 are legacy applications: older versions of Microsoft Office, including some pre-2019 installations that are still common in corporate environments, third-party image management tools built before 2020, accounting and CRM software that bundles its own image handling, and any software that relies on the older Windows GDI APIs rather than the modern WIC codec framework for image decoding.
For users who need WebP to work in every application without per-file conversion, the WebP Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store adds WIC codec support system-wide on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Once installed, any WIC-compatible application gains the ability to read WebP files, including File Explorer thumbnails, older versions of Office, and most third-party image tools. However, installing Microsoft Store extensions requires a Microsoft account that is signed in to the Store, and installing anything from the Store often requires administrator privileges on managed corporate machines where policy restricts software installation. In those tightly managed environments, converting WebP to PNG or JPG using a browser-based tool like FixTools is the easiest path forward because it requires no installation, no admin rights, no Microsoft account, and no IT ticket.
There is also a practical hierarchy to consider when troubleshooting WebP issues on Windows. The fastest test is to drag the WebP file onto Microsoft Edge, which is preinstalled on all supported Windows versions and renders WebP natively. If that works but your target application still cannot open the file, the issue is application-specific rather than system-wide, and conversion to PNG or JPG is the most reliable fix. If even Edge fails to render the file, the WebP itself may be corrupted or truncated, in which case re-downloading the file from the original source is the right next step. The conversion tools at FixTools handle every well-formed WebP file the browser can decode, which in practice covers everything you are likely to encounter from a website, an email attachment, or a colleague handing you a file.
Upload your WebP file to FixTools and convert it to PNG or JPG. The converted file will open in any Windows application, Photos, Paint, Word, or any image viewer.
Step-by-step guide to how to open webp files on windows:
Try opening WebP in Microsoft Edge or Chrome
Both Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome on Windows natively display WebP files at full quality with no extra setup. Drag your .webp file onto an open browser window, or right-click the file in File Explorer, choose Open with, and select Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. The image renders immediately and you can right-click the displayed image to copy it to the clipboard for pasting into another app.
Use Windows Photos app (Windows 10/11)
The Windows Photos app on Windows 10 and Windows 11 supports WebP after recent updates. Right-click the .webp file in File Explorer, choose Open with, then Photos, and the image opens in the Photos viewer where you can browse, crop, and perform basic edits. On older Windows 10 installs that have not been updated for some time, this option may not work and you should fall back to converting the file.
Convert to PNG or JPG for full compatibility
For applications that simply do not support WebP, including the classic Paint that shipped before the 2023 redesign, Microsoft Word in many older configurations, Photoshop before version 23.2, and any legacy line-of-business software, convert the file to PNG or JPG using FixTools. Open fixtools.io in Edge or Chrome on your Windows PC, no installation, no account, and no admin rights required, and use the Image Format Converter.
Upload the WebP file to FixTools
Upload your WebP file to the Image Format Converter by dragging it onto the upload area or by clicking to open the file picker and navigating to wherever the file lives, typically the Downloads folder on Windows. Select PNG or JPG as the output format. PNG gives you a lossless copy with transparency preserved; JPG gives you a smaller file when transparency is not needed.
Download and open the converted file
Click Convert and then Download the converted file. The new PNG or JPG saves to your default Downloads folder and will now open without complaint in any Windows application that supports standard image formats, including legacy Paint, every version of Word, every version of PowerPoint, every version of Photoshop, and every other piece of imaging software shipped in the last twenty years.
Common situations where this approach makes a real difference:
Office worker inserting a web image into a Word document
A Windows 10 office worker saves an image from a research webpage to include as a figure in a quarterly Word report, then finds the file is WebP and Word displays a generic broken image placeholder when inserted. Converting the file to PNG in Edge using FixTools takes under thirty seconds end to end, produces a file that Word accepts and renders correctly in the document, requires no Office update, no add-in install, and no IT helpdesk ticket, and lets the worker meet the report deadline without involving anyone else in the company.
IT administrator on a managed corporate machine
An IT administrator on a tightly managed corporate Windows fleet cannot install the WebP Image Extensions across all user machines because the package requires a Microsoft account that corporate policy blocks for security and data-handling reasons. Converting WebP files to PNG using FixTools in Edge requires no installation, no Microsoft account, no admin privileges, and no Microsoft Store access, which makes it the practical workaround the administrator can endorse for general staff use across the entire managed estate without any policy exemption or new approval.
Teacher preparing visual materials for a classroom presentation
A teacher on a school district Windows PC saves reference images from educational websites for a PowerPoint lesson plan, then finds that all the saved files are WebP and the school district's mandatory copy of PowerPoint 2019 simply cannot display them when inserted into a slide. Batch converting the images to PNG in Edge using FixTools before inserting them into the slides resolves the display errors across every classroom PC in the district running the same locked-down PowerPoint version, with no district-wide software update or IT change request required.
Get better results with these expert suggestions:
Right-click a WebP and choose Open with Edge instantly
On any Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC, right-clicking a .webp file and selecting Open with then Microsoft Edge will display the image immediately at full quality without any further setup. Edge is preinstalled on all supported Windows versions and uses the same Chromium WebP decoder as Chrome, so the result is identical. This is the fastest way to view a WebP when you just want to look at it once, and you can right-click the rendered image inside Edge to copy it to the clipboard or save it in a different format.
Install WebP Image Extensions for system-wide support
The free WebP Image Extensions package from the Microsoft Store adds WebP support to Windows Photo Viewer, File Explorer thumbnails, and any WIC-compatible application across the entire Windows installation. Search WebP Image Extensions in the Microsoft Store and click Get to install. Note that installing this requires a Microsoft account signed in to the Store, and on corporate-managed Windows machines where IT restricts Store access this option may be unavailable, in which case FixTools is the more practical route.
Convert once, use everywhere
If you regularly receive WebP files and use older software that does not support the format, batch-convert your downloads to PNG as a routine step at the end of each browsing session. FixTools batch conversion handles entire folders of WebP files at once: open the converter in Edge, drag the entire folder onto the upload area, select PNG as the output format, click Convert All, and download the resulting Zip archive in under a minute. The Zip preserves your original filenames with the extension updated.
Windows 11 Paint can open and save WebP directly
The redesigned Paint application in Windows 11, version 11.2306 and later, supports WebP as both an input and an output format. If you are on Windows 11 with a recent monthly update, you can open a WebP file directly in Paint by right-clicking the file and choosing Open with then Paint, then use File then Save as to write it back out as PNG, JPG, or any other supported format without needing a separate converter. This is the simplest path for occasional one-off conversions on a Windows 11 box.
More use-case guides for the same tool:
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