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Reference Formats

WebP

A Google-developed format offering lossy (VP8), lossless (VP8L) and animated modes in a compact RIFF container, designed to shrink web image payloads versus JPEG/PNG/GIF.

Extension

.webp

Full name

WebP

Introduced

September 30, 2010

Vendor

Google (built on VP8 technology from its 2010 On2 Technologies acquisition)

What is inside the container

WebP layers three encodings inside a RIFF container: VP8 for lossy compression, VP8L for lossless compression with optional transparency, and the extended VP8X container required whenever alpha, animation, or metadata is present. It supports 8-bit channels with 8-bit alpha transparency, and embeds EXIF, XMP, and a single ICC profile chunk — but has no native IPTC chunk type, unlike JPEG or TIFF.

How to open it

macOS Preview (native since macOS 11 Big Sur, 2020)
Web browsers Wide support: Chrome 32+ (2014), Firefox 65+ (2019), Safari 16+ (2022), Edge — roughly 96–97% global coverage
Cross-platform GIMP (native since 2.10), Adobe Photoshop, ImageMagick, ExifTool (full metadata support)
Windows Native support in the Photos app on Windows 10 and later

For archives

Use as a delivery/derivative format, not a DAM master. WebP is excellent for web-facing previews and thumbnails — smaller than comparable JPEG/PNG output — and does carry EXIF/XMP/ICC, but it lacks TIFF's multi-decade archival track record and institutional endorsement. Keep the original camera file or a TIFF master in the archive tier and generate WebP as a served preview/thumbnail.

Google announced WebP on September 30, 2010, building it on VP8 video-codec technology it had acquired earlier that year through the purchase of On2 Technologies. The motivation was purely a web-performance problem: JPEG, PNG, and GIF were collectively inefficient for the growing volume of images the web was serving, and Google wanted a smaller-footprint format to cut bandwidth for its own properties, particularly Search and Photos. Lossless compression, alpha transparency, and animation support were layered in afterward via the extended VP8X container.

In a DAM, WebP is primarily a rendition format rather than an ingest master. Systems increasingly serve WebP-derived thumbnails and previews automatically to speed up page loads, while retaining the original ingest format — JPEG, TIFF, RAW — as the true master. Browser support has become wide enough (roughly 96–97% of global traffic per caniuse.com) that WebP delivery is now close to a safe default for web-facing asset views, a very different maturity level than JPEG XL or AVIF.

The metadata pitfall is on the derivative side: WebP does support EXIF, XMP, and a single ICC profile chunk, but many aggressive web-optimization pipelines and CDNs strip these chunks by default to save bytes, since bandwidth reduction was WebP’s entire reason for existing. A DAM that needs its served WebP renditions to preserve usage-rights or attribution metadata has to explicitly configure export pipelines to retain those chunks rather than assume they survive automatically.

Frequently asked

Should a DAM use WebP as its master format?

No — use WebP as a delivery or derivative format. It's excellent for web-facing previews and thumbnails and does carry EXIF/XMP/ICC, but it lacks TIFF's multi-decade archival track record and institutional endorsement, so keep the original camera file or a TIFF master in the archive tier.

What metadata does WebP support?

WebP embeds EXIF, XMP, and a single ICC profile chunk — but has no native IPTC chunk type, unlike JPEG or TIFF.

How wide is browser support for WebP?

Wide — Chrome 32+ (2014), Firefox 65+ (2019), Safari 16+ (2022), and Edge cover roughly 96–97% of global traffic, making WebP delivery close to a safe default today.

Why might WebP metadata go missing in a DAM's served images?

Many aggressive web-optimization pipelines and CDNs strip EXIF/XMP/ICC chunks by default to save bytes, since bandwidth reduction was WebP's entire reason for existing. A DAM that needs rights or attribution metadata to survive must explicitly configure export pipelines to retain those chunks.

What compression modes does WebP offer?

Three encodings inside a RIFF container: VP8 for lossy compression, VP8L for lossless compression with optional transparency, and the extended VP8X container whenever alpha, animation, or metadata is present.

Why was WebP created?

Google announced it on September 30, 2010, building on VP8 video-codec technology from its On2 Technologies acquisition, to reduce the collective bandwidth cost of JPEG, PNG, and GIF on the web.

Does WebP support alpha transparency?

Yes, 8-bit alpha transparency, carried via the extended VP8X container alongside VP8L lossless data.

What's the typical DAM role for WebP?

A rendition format rather than an ingest master: DAM systems increasingly serve WebP-derived thumbnails and previews automatically to speed up page loads, while retaining the original ingest format as the true master.

Sources