Does WebP support transparency?

Yes, both lossless and lossy WebP support transparent backgrounds.

Why can't I open a WebP file?

Some programs don't support it yet. Convert it to PNG or JPG to open it anywhere.

Should I convert my website's PNGs to WebP?

Usually yes. It's one of the easiest ways to make pages load faster.

WebP vs PNG: Which Is Better?

WebP was made by Google to replace both JPG and PNG on the web. Like PNG it supports transparency, but its files are usually far smaller. PNG's advantage is that it works absolutely everywhere.

WebP vs PNG

Use WebP for images on your website: much smaller, with transparency. Use PNG when you need maximum compatibility, for editing, or for files people will download and open in other apps.

Convert WebP to PNG Convert PNG to WebP

WebP vs PNG at a glance

Property	WebP	PNG
Compression	Lossy or lossless	Lossless (exact pixels, larger files)
Transparency	Yes	Yes
Animation	Yes	No
Opens in	All modern browsers; some older apps and upload forms don't accept it	All browsers and devices
Best for	Fast-loading website images	Logos, screenshots, graphics, images with text or transparency

Use WebP for

Website images, including transparent graphics
Faster pages and better Core Web Vitals
Animated images (smaller than GIF)

Use PNG for

Files to share, edit or open in any app
Screenshots for documents and support tickets
Master copies and archiving
Uploads to sites that don't accept WebP

File size test

How big are the files?

We saved the same two images in both formats with our converter at default settings (quality 85 for lossy formats).

Test image	WebP	PNG	Difference
1600 × 1200 photo	92 KB	1.81 MB	WebP 95% smaller
1200 × 800 screenshot with text	17 KB	65 KB	WebP 73% smaller

Key differences

File size

In our test, WebP was 95% smaller than PNG for a photo (92 KB vs 1.8 MB) and 73% smaller for a screenshot (17 KB vs 65 KB).

Quality

PNG is always lossless. WebP can be lossless or lossy; lossy WebP at high quality is visually close but not pixel-identical.

Compatibility

Every browser shows WebP today, but some desktop apps, older editors and upload forms still reject it. PNG opens everywhere.

Transparency and animation

Both support transparency. Only WebP supports animation.

WebP

What is a WebP file?

WebP is a raster graphics file format developed by Google specifically for web optimization, utilizing the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) container. It employs predictive coding based on the VP8 video codec for lossy compression and the LZ77 algorithm with entropy coding for lossless compression. WebP supports transparency (alpha channel) in both lossy and lossless modes, as well as animation, often achieving file sizes 26-34% smaller than comparable JPEG or PNG files while maintaining high structural similarity (SSIM) index scores.

How to open a WebP file

WebP is natively supported by all modern web browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari. For offline viewing, Windows 10 and 11 support WebP via the Photos app (often requiring the Webp Image Extensions package), while macOS users can view them in Preview (macOS Big Sur and later). Legacy systems or incompatible editors require conversion tools or third-party viewers like IrfanView to render the image data.

Full Name: Web Picture
Developed By: Google
Initial Release: 2010
MIME Type: image/webp

PNG

What is a PNG file?

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is a raster graphics file format that supports lossless data compression, created as a patent-free replacement for the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF). Standardized as ISO/IEC 15948:2004, PNG utilizes the DEFLATE compression algorithm (a combination of LZ77 and Huffman coding) and supports palette-based images, grayscale, and full-color non-palette-based RGB/RGBA images. A defining feature is its alpha channel support, allowing for variable transparency levels, unlike the binary transparency of GIF. It does not support animation but offers gamma correction and interlacing via the Adam7 algorithm.

How to open a PNG file

PNG files possess near-universal compatibility across all major operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS) and web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) without requiring additional software. Default image viewers such as Microsoft Photos, Apple Preview, and virtually all graphics editing software including GIMP, Adobe Photoshop, and Paint.NET natively handle the format.

Full Name: Portable Network Graphics
Developed By: PNG Development Group
Initial Release: 1996
MIME Type: image/png