When you actually need a PNG instead of WEBP
WEBP is great for the web — small and fast. But it stops being useful the moment a file needs to go somewhere other than a modern browser:
- Older editing software. Photoshop CS6 / CC versions older than 23, older Lightroom, GIMP without plugins, Affinity Photo before late updates.
- Office / Google Docs paste. Many older Word / PowerPoint versions will not accept WEBP. PNG works everywhere.
- Print shops and design vendors. Most still expect TIFF, PNG, or JPG. Sending WEBP gets the job bounced back.
- Web upload forms outside Big Tech. Many CMSes, ticketing systems, and government portals reject WEBP uploads.
- Sharing with non-technical users. A double-clicked WEBP on Windows still confuses people. PNG opens with no questions.
WEBP vs PNG
| WEBP | PNG | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Modern | 1990s |
| File size | Smaller | Larger (often 2–4×) |
| Lossless | Optional | Always |
| Transparency | Full alpha | Full alpha |
| Editing compatibility | Newer software only | Universal |
| Animation | Yes | No (APNG non-standard) |
How it works
- Drop your WEBP files — drag, click, or paste. Up to 30 at a time.
- Click Convert — the browser decodes the WEBP and re-encodes as PNG locally with the Canvas API.
- Download — individually or as a single ZIP.
Expect bigger files
PNG cannot match WEBP’s compression — that’s the point of WEBP. A 200 KB lossy WEBP will typically expand to ~600 KB as PNG. This is normal; the PNG is for compatibility, not storage.
Privacy
All decoding and re-encoding happens in your browser. Your files never reach a server. There is no upload, no temporary file, no log.