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Rene J2
Rene J2
Participating Frequently
April 7, 2026
Answered

Export in webp format with LrC

  • April 7, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 200 views

Hello,

I’d like to know if it is possible to export in webp format from LrC ? I don’t see this possibility.

Is it possible with Photoshop ? Except with save as where I can’t choose size of file.

Thanks in advance.

 

    Correct answer john beardsworth

    What you can do within the Adobe system is create a droplet which you would run as the Post Processing Step in LR’s Export Dialog.

     

    If you’ve never created a droplet, it’s like wrapping a Photoshop action as a little program file that will call Photoshop. It can be fiddly to get going (see http://lightroomsolutions.com/tag/droplets/ )

     

    Assuming you start with a raw file in LR, Edit in PS and then start recording an action. I think you’ll need to convert to 8 bit, and then invoke Save As and choose WebP. Save your action.

     

    Then in PS, File > Automate > Create Droplet and point it to your action. This creates a file which you can save temporarily on the desktop. If you want to see a droplet working, just drag a JPEG onto the droplet - you’ll see it invokes PS and saves a WebP.

     

    Now let’s get it working in LR. In LR’s Export, Post Processing Step, go to the Export Actions Folder and put the droplet in it. You can then run an Export and choose the droplet as the Post Processing Step.

     

    I’ve not tested this while writing, but it’s the same method as in the link above and should work.

    4 replies

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    April 9, 2026

    For future readers, here's how to create a Lightroom Export preset "Webp" that exports photos in Webp format, using the free, widely used Imagemagick app to do the conversion.

     

    [Mac]

     

    1. Click the attachment "mac-webp.txt" below to download it.

     

    2. Start the Terminal app and copy/paste these two lines:

    cp ~/Downloads/mac-webp.txt ~/"Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Export Actions/webp.sh"
    chmod +x ~/"Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Export Actions/webp.sh"

     

    3. Install the Homebrew package manager if not already installed:

    https://brew.sh/

     

    4. Copy/paste this line into the Terminal app to install Imagemagick:

    brew install imagemagick

     

    [Windows]

     

    5. Click the attachment "win-webp.txt" below to download it.

     

    6. Start the Command Prompt and copy/paste this line:

    copy "%homedrive%%homepath%\Downloads\win-webp.txt" "%appdata%\Adobe\Lightroom\Export Actions\webp.bat"

     

    7. Copy/paste this line to Command Prompt to install Imagemagick:

    winget install ImageMagick.Q16

     

    [Mac and Windows]

     

    8. Restart Lightroom Classic.

     

    9. Do the menu command File > Export...

     

    10. In File Settings, choose Image Format: JPEG, Quality: 85.

     

    11. Set the other Export settings as desired.

     

    12. In Post-Processing, click After Export and select "webp".

     

    13. At the bottom of the Preset panel, click Add and enter the name "Webp".

     

    14. To use the preset, select the photos to be exported and do File > Export With Preset > Webp.

    john beardsworth
    Community Expert
    john beardsworthCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    April 8, 2026

    What you can do within the Adobe system is create a droplet which you would run as the Post Processing Step in LR’s Export Dialog.

     

    If you’ve never created a droplet, it’s like wrapping a Photoshop action as a little program file that will call Photoshop. It can be fiddly to get going (see http://lightroomsolutions.com/tag/droplets/ )

     

    Assuming you start with a raw file in LR, Edit in PS and then start recording an action. I think you’ll need to convert to 8 bit, and then invoke Save As and choose WebP. Save your action.

     

    Then in PS, File > Automate > Create Droplet and point it to your action. This creates a file which you can save temporarily on the desktop. If you want to see a droplet working, just drag a JPEG onto the droplet - you’ll see it invokes PS and saves a WebP.

     

    Now let’s get it working in LR. In LR’s Export, Post Processing Step, go to the Export Actions Folder and put the droplet in it. You can then run an Export and choose the droplet as the Post Processing Step.

     

    I’ve not tested this while writing, but it’s the same method as in the link above and should work.

    Rene J2
    Rene J2Author
    Participating Frequently
    April 9, 2026

    Hi,

    I’m going to investigate droplet solution that automatizes the process.

    I can’t access to your link that is blocked by antivirus but found other videos on the subject. Thanks.

    john beardsworth
    Community Expert
    john beardsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 10, 2026

    I should add that you can also set up the droplet as an additional external editor (in Preferences), so that it can be called both in Export and by right click and Edit With .

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    April 7, 2026

    You can use an Export post-processing action with free utilities to automatically convert the exported file to Webp format.  See here for details:

     

    Rene J2
    Rene J2Author
    Participating Frequently
    April 7, 2026

    Thank you, there are of course a lot of free utilities but it means to go out Adobe eco system and one work more in workflow.

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    April 7, 2026

    ​@Rene J2 and one work more in workflow.

    Once you set up a LR Export preset with the chosen utility, there are no extra steps in the workflow.  Simply export with that preset.

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 7, 2026

    Hi, ​@Rene J2, yes you are correct on both assumptions. If all of your images are the same size (or groups of the same size, you can always make an Action to set the size and set the save into Webp.

     

    Rene J2
    Rene J2Author
    Participating Frequently
    April 7, 2026

    Hi ​@gary_sc, thank you, supposing all the images have the same size is it possible to save as Webp in Lrc ? or is it only on PS ?

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    gary_scCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 8, 2026

    Oh, my point about same size is just to speed things up. Let’s say you need some of your images at 800 pixels wide and other at 1000 pixels wide. If you export the images into folders for 800 and a 2nd one at 1000. Then you could open each folder in Bridge, and from the the Tools menu you select Photoshop → Image processor…

    Then, from there, on the bottom, you select your saved actions folder and then select which action you want (I have several actions for a newsletter I do, I stopped doing webstuff some ten years ago).
     

    But you just select the images you want processed and then select the Action to do the job. It works very well. But it cannot be done within LRC at this point in time.

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