PNG to WebP Converter

Why WebP?

WebP is a modern image format developed by Google that combines the best of JPG and PNG: it supports both lossy and lossless compression, full alpha-channel transparency, and animation, while producing files that are typically 25–35% smaller than JPG and 50–80% smaller than PNG at equivalent visual quality. It is now supported in every current desktop and mobile browser, including Safari since version 14, which removed the last major reason not to use it.

Switching your site's PNGs to WebP is one of the single best performance improvements you can make. It usually cuts total page weight by a third or more, improves Core Web Vitals (particularly Largest Contentful Paint), and costs nothing in image quality. Search engines reward faster pages — Google has been using page speed as a ranking factor since 2018 — so it's also a direct SEO win.

How this converter works

The tool decodes your PNG into a hidden canvas at its original resolution and re-encodes it as WebP via canvas.toBlob('image/webp', quality). The browser's built-in WebP encoder (libwebp under the hood) handles the compression. Transparency is preserved automatically — WebP supports the same 8-bit alpha channel as PNG, so semi-transparent edges and drop shadows survive the conversion intact.

Conversion runs entirely in your browser. There's no upload, no server, no queue: a 2 MB PNG typically becomes a 400–600 KB WebP in under a second. You can verify the local-only behaviour by opening your browser's Developer Tools Network tab — the Convert button doesn't trigger any network request.

PNG vs. WebP — the numbers

Image type	PNG size	WebP @ q82	Saving
Hero photo (1920×1080)	2.4 MB	180 KB	92%
Product shot, transparent BG	800 KB	140 KB	82%
UI icon (256×256)	14 KB	6 KB	57%
App screenshot	320 KB	90 KB	72%
Pure-colour logo	9 KB	4 KB	55%

These are real numbers from typical web images. Your own results will vary depending on content, but the broad pattern always holds: WebP is smaller, often dramatically so, with no visible loss at quality 80+.

Choosing a quality setting

• 95–100 — near-lossless. Useful for archival or for images you'll edit again. File size is still 30–50% smaller than the source PNG.
• 80–90 — the sweet spot for web use. Almost no visible loss on photographs, with the biggest size savings. The default 82 is a good starting point.
• 65–80 — good for thumbnails, gallery tiles and below-the-fold images.
• Below 65 — use only for very small images where artefacts won't show.

Browser support — is it safe to use yet?

Yes. As of 2026, WebP is supported by 97% of all browsers in active use. Specifically:

• Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave — supported since 2010.
• Firefox — supported since 2019.
• Safari (macOS and iOS) — supported since Safari 14 / Big Sur in 2020.
• Android Browser — supported since Android 4.2 (2013).

For the tiny remaining audience on truly ancient browsers, use the HTML <picture> element to serve WebP first and fall back to JPG/PNG:

<picture>
  <source srcset="hero.webp" type="image/webp">
  <img src="hero.jpg" alt="...">
</picture>

When to use WebP vs. AVIF vs. PNG

AVIF is the next-generation format after WebP and produces even smaller files (often 20–30% smaller than WebP). However, AVIF support is less universal — Safari only added full AVIF support in version 16 (2022), and many older devices in active use don't have it. WebP hits the sweet spot of "small enough to make a noticeable difference, supported almost everywhere." For 2026 production use we recommend WebP as the default with optional AVIF served via <picture> for the latest browsers.

Keep PNG when: the file is already very small (under 20 KB), the image is a pure flat-colour graphic that PNG compresses well, or you need maximum compatibility (very old browsers, image libraries that don't speak WebP yet).

Tips for the best result

• If your PNG is much larger than its display size, resize first with the PNG Resizer — combining resize + WebP often cuts file size by 95%.
• For lossless WebP (handy for screenshots and pixel-perfect graphics), set quality to 100 — the encoder switches to lossless mode at the top end of the slider.
• Test WebP visually before deploying — at quality 80+ it's usually indistinguishable from the source, but pixel-art or extreme-gradient images occasionally show banding that JPG doesn't.

FAQs

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