How to Convert WebP to PNG on Mac: Screenshots, Downloads & Batch Conversion

Why you keep ending up with WebP files

You right-click an image on a website, hit "Save Image As," and the file saves as image.webp instead of the PNG or JPG you expected. Or you screenshot a web page and the saved image from an app's cache shows up as WebP. This happens because most websites now serve images in Google's WebP format to reduce bandwidth — it's 25–35% smaller than PNG at the same visual quality.

The problem isn't viewing WebP files. macOS has supported WebP natively since Ventura — you can open them in Preview, Quick Look them in Finder, and view them in Safari. The problem is that many workflows still expect PNG or JPG. Drag a WebP into Keynote, paste it into a Word doc, or upload it to a form that only accepts PNG/JPG, and it fails or looks wrong.

If you regularly capture screenshots of web content or save images from the web, you'll hit this wall often enough that it's worth knowing all the conversion options.

Method 1: Convert with Preview (one file at a time)

The simplest method. No installs, no Terminal, works on every modern Mac.

1. Double-click the WebP file to open it in Preview (or right-click > Open With > Preview)
2. Go to File > Export (not "Save As" — Export gives you format options)
3. Click the Format dropdown and choose PNG
4. Choose where to save the converted file and click Save

The original WebP file stays untouched. You get a new PNG file alongside it. If you want JPG instead, choose JPEG from the Format dropdown — you'll get a quality slider to control file size versus image quality.

Pro tip: use Export for format conversion, not Save As

File > Save As in Preview sometimes keeps the original format. File > Export always gives you the format picker. If you don't see PNG in the Save As dialog, switch to Export.

Method 2: Quick Actions in Finder (fastest for a few files)

macOS has a built-in Quick Action for image conversion that works directly in Finder without opening any app.

1. Right-click the WebP file (or select multiple files and right-click)
2. Choose Quick Actions > Convert Image
3. Select PNG as the format
4. Choose the image size (Small, Medium, Large, or Actual Size)
5. Click Convert to PNG

The converted PNG appears in the same folder. This method handles multiple files at once — select 10 WebP files, right-click, and convert them all in one step.

If you don't see "Convert Image" in the Quick Actions menu, it may not be enabled. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Extensions > Finder and make sure "Convert Image" is checked.

Method 3: Terminal with sips (built-in, no installs)

The sips (Scriptable Image Processing System) command is built into every Mac. It's the fastest method for single files and scripts.

# Convert a single WebP file to PNG
sips -s format png input.webp --out output.png

The -s format png flag tells sips to output PNG format. The --out flag specifies the output filename. Without --out, sips would modify the original file in place — usually not what you want.

Convert and keep the same filename

# Convert and change extension from .webp to .png
sips -s format png photo.webp --out photo.png

Convert to JPG instead

# Convert WebP to JPEG with quality control
sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions 85 input.webp --out output.jpg

The formatOptions 85 sets JPEG quality to 85% — a good balance between file size and visual quality. Range is 0–100.

Method 4: Batch convert all WebP files in a folder

If you have a folder full of WebP files from a web scrape, design export, or download session, convert them all at once with a Terminal loop.

Convert every WebP file in the current folder

# Batch convert all WebP files to PNG in the current folder
for f in *.webp; do
  sips -s format png "$f" --out "${f%.webp}.png"
done

This creates a PNG version of each WebP file with the same base name. photo.webp becomes photo.png. The original WebP files remain untouched.

Convert and output to a different folder

# Convert all WebP files and save PNGs to a 'converted' subfolder
mkdir -p converted
for f in *.webp; do
  sips -s format png "$f" --out "converted/${f%.webp}.png"
done

Convert recursively (subfolders too)

# Find and convert all WebP files in all subdirectories
find . -name "*.webp" -exec sh -c '
  for f; do
    sips -s format png "$f" --out "${f%.webp}.png"
  done
' sh {} +

Batch convert in Preview

If you prefer a GUI approach:

1. Select all WebP files in Finder
2. Right-click and choose Open With > Preview
3. In Preview, press Cmd+A to select all images in the sidebar
4. Go to File > Export Selected Images
5. Click Options, set Format to PNG
6. Choose a destination folder and click Choose

This exports every selected image as PNG to the folder you picked.

Method 5: Automator or Shortcuts for one-click conversion

If you convert WebP files regularly, build a reusable Quick Action that does it with a right-click.

Create a Quick Action in Automator

1. Open Automator and create a new Quick Action
2. Set "Workflow receives current" to image files in Finder
3. Add a Change Type of Images action and set it to PNG
4. Save the workflow as "Convert to PNG"

Now you can right-click any WebP file (or selection of files) in Finder, choose Quick Actions > Convert to PNG, and they'll convert instantly. The Automator action replaces the original files by default — add a Copy Finder Items action before the conversion step if you want to keep the originals.

Create a Shortcut (macOS Monterey and later)

1. Open the Shortcuts app and create a new shortcut
2. Add Convert Image action, set format to PNG
3. Add Save File action
4. In Shortcut Details, enable Use as Quick Action and Finder

The Shortcuts version is simpler to set up and offers the same right-click convenience in Finder.

Method 6: Homebrew tools for power users

If you work with image formats frequently, dedicated CLI tools offer more control than sips.

Using cwebp/dwebp (Google's official tools)

# Install Google's WebP tools via Homebrew
brew install webp

# Convert WebP to PNG
dwebp input.webp -o output.png

# Convert PNG to WebP (for when you need the reverse)
cwebp input.png -o output.webp

dwebp is the official WebP decoder from Google. It handles animated WebP files and edge cases that sips occasionally struggles with.

Using ImageMagick

# Install ImageMagick
brew install imagemagick

# Convert WebP to PNG
magick input.webp output.png

# Batch convert with ImageMagick
magick mogrify -format png *.webp

ImageMagick's mogrify command is the fastest batch converter. -format png converts in place, creating new PNG files alongside the originals. Add -path ./converted to output to a different folder.

When to keep WebP instead of converting

Not every WebP file needs conversion. Here's when each format makes more sense:

Avoiding WebP in the first place

If you'd rather not deal with conversion at all, there are ways to get PNG or JPG directly when saving images from the web.

Screenshot instead of saving

Instead of right-click saving a web image (which gives you WebP), screenshot it. Press Cmd+Shift+4, select the image on the page, and you'll get a PNG file. The quality is identical for web-resolution images, and you skip the format problem entirely.

Use "Save As" in Safari's Develop menu

Safari sometimes lets you save images in their original format before WebP conversion. Enable the Develop menu (Settings > Advanced > Show features for web developers), then use Develop > Show Page Source to find the original image URL, which may serve a PNG or JPG version.

Drag and drop from browser

In some cases, dragging an image from the browser directly into an app (like Pages, Keynote, or a Finder folder) converts it to a compatible format automatically. macOS handles the conversion behind the scenes. This doesn't always produce PNG — the result depends on the receiving app — but it's often enough to bypass the WebP issue.

Comparing conversion methods

For most people, the Finder Quick Actions method is the best balance of speed and simplicity. For developers and power users who convert files regularly, a sips one-liner or an Automator Quick Action saves the most time over the long run.