How to convert images to WebP on a Mac

Can a Mac save images as WebP?

It opens them, but it doesn’t write them. On macOS 15.7, the system’s image engine lists 21 formats it can write, and WebP isn’t one of them, so sips -s format webp writes nothing. Apple lists Preview’s export formats as HEIC, JPEG, JPEG-2000, OpenEXR, PDF, PNG and TIFF. To make a WebP, you need an encoder: Google’s cwebp in the Terminal, or Ricly, which ships that same encoder inside the app.

Convert to WebP in the Terminal, with cwebp

1. Install Google’s WebP tools, for example with Homebrew: brew install webp.
2. In the folder, run the command below. The quality goes from 0 to 100; cwebp’s default is 75.
3. For a whole folder of PNGs, use the loop below it.

cwebp -q 85 photo.jpg -o photo.webp

for f in *.png; do cwebp -q 85 "$f" -o "$(basename "$f" .png).webp"; done

Good to know. Add -lossless for an exact copy of a PNG: on a flat logo it can even be smaller, as our transparent logo came out at 7.2 KB lossless against 11.5 KB at quality 85. cwebp doesn’t read HEIC (we tried), so convert an iPhone photo to JPG first.

The right-click way

Convert to WebP with Ricly

1. Install Ricly and open it. Turn on the Finder extension when it asks (one setting), then create your free account and verify your email.
2. In Finder, select the JPGs, PNGs, HEICs or TIFFs and right-click: choose Ricly › Convert to WebP.
3. Each WebP lands next to its original, with the same name.

• It runs cwebp 1.6.0, from Google’s WebP project, which ships inside the app: nothing to install.
• Quality 85, the same for every file and every plan.
• A transparent PNG stays transparent, and a photo shot sideways comes out upright.
• Each WebP lands beside its original, which is never touched; a taken name gets a numbered file.
• No monthly limit, and everything happens on your Mac.

Where it falls short. It takes JPG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF and BMP. There’s no quality setting and no lossless mode, and the WebP carries no date, camera or location data and no embedded color profile. It needs macOS 13 or later.

Download for MacSend it to my Mac Free, no monthly limit · macOS 13 or later · Notarized by Apple

How much smaller is a WebP?

It depends on the picture. With Google’s encoder at quality 85, the setting Ricly uses, our test photo went from a 1.71 MB JPEG to a 468 KB WebP, a 516 KB PNG product shot to 51 KB, and a transparent 51 KB logo to 11.5 KB, all at the same dimensions. Quality 85 is lossy, so keep your originals.

Convert WebP to JPG or PNG (built in)

In Preview: open the WebP, choose File › Export, set Format to JPEG or PNG, then click Save.

In the Terminal: for a PNG, use -s format png instead.

sips -s format jpeg image.webp --out image.jpg

We tried both on macOS 15.7: the JPG kept its 2400 × 3600 pixels, and the PNG kept the logo’s transparency.

With Ricly: right-click the WebP and choose Convert to JPG: the JPG lands beside it, at quality 0.92, and a transparent WebP lands on white.

Steps from Apple’s Preview guide: Convert image file types.

Which one should you use?

Converting images to WebP on a Mac: common questions

Image to WebP in Ricly →Compress images on a Mac →Convert HEIC to JPG on a Mac →