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Native Support for .webp Format Needed in Photoshop

Community Beginner ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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Photoshop lacks native support for the .webp image format, which has become a widely used format on the web due to its superior compression and quality balance.

Adding built-in .webp support would save users time and effort, eliminating the need to use third-party plugins or convert files outside of Photoshop. It would streamline the workflow for web designers, developers, and anyone working with web-optimized images.

Many other image editing tools already support .webp, and introducing this feature would help Photoshop remain competitive and versatile in today’s digital landscape.

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Adobe
Community Expert ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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@Balázs28016806xdji 

 

Native support for .webp was added in 2022. What version of Photoshop are you using?

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/whats-new/2022-1.html#support-for-webp

 

Jane

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New Here ,
Oct 04, 2024 Oct 04, 2024

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but its not fully suported.  Generate Image assets does not suport .webp

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Community Expert ,
Oct 04, 2024 Oct 04, 2024

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quote

Generate Image assets does not suport .webp

By @Nate241386699jj4

 

If you want the product developers to see this, please create a new post and select "Idea" as the Conversation type:

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Jane

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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I'm currently using Photoshop version 25.13.0 (beta). While I can import .webp files, there's no option to save a newly created image in .webp format after editing. The format is missing from the "Save As," "Export," and "Save for Web (Legacy)" menus, which seems odd.

As far as I know, saving in .webp is only possible with an external plugin, which feels a bit limiting at this point.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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@Balázs28016806xdji 

 

Can you try "Save As Copy"?

 

From the Help page linked to earlier:

"In addition to open capabilities, you can now create, edit, and save WebP files. Once you are done editing your document, open Save As or Save a Copy and select WebP from the options provided in the file format drop-down menu to save your WebP file."

 

Jane

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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Thanks, I found it based on your suggestion.

It's great that it's there, but at the same time, it's quite hidden. Even someone experienced might miss it because we're used to looking for common formats in the usual places. I don't really understand the distinction between "Save As" and "Save a Copy" – it feels confusing and misleading.

This format is difficult to locate for users. It’s also puzzling why .webp isn’t included in the "Export" or "Save for Web" menus, where you’d expect it to be.

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LEGEND ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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Photoshop is a complex, professional tool. So yeah lots of capabilites might be "hidden" or difficult to find. Luckily, Photoshop is one of the two most documented applications available, Microsoft Excel being the other. There are thousands of tutorials, websites, videos, help pages, etc available online to assist you.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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@Balázs28016806xdji you can enable legacy save as in the preferences

2024-10-03 13_08_19-P1020627.JPG @ 25% (RGB_8).png

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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Thanks, this works too, but it’s really not well designed.

It’s amazing that they took the time to program this workaround instead of simply including modern formats (like .webp, .png, .jpg) in the default "Save As" options. Well done! 🙂 This is how you make a program increasingly complicated to use.

With one small fix - adding .webp to the Export and Save for Web options - it would make users' lives so much easier.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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@Balázs28016806xdji â€“ Save for Web (Legacy) isn't expected to have new features added to it's ancient code base. Export As/Quick Export is the new heir to the web saving crown, however, it seems to be under a glacial development pace. You can add your vote here:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-ideas/support-webp-in-photoshop-export-as/idi-p/1...

 

While on the topic of WebP, a batch converter script here:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/export-many-files-at-once-in-webp-for...

 

Save/Save As/Save a Copy is explained in more detail here:

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/au/photoshop/using/saving-images.html

 

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Community Expert ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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It’s amazing that they took the time to program this workaround instead of simply including modern formats (like .webp, .png, .jpg) in the default "Save As" options. Well done! 🙂 This is how you make a program increasingly complicated to use.

By @Balázs28016806xdji

 

The way Photoshop works there is actually now much more consistent with how other photo editors from other companies also work: For data safety, they reserve the Save As command for formats that support and can preserve all native features.

 

Saving to a format that will throw out features such as layers is moved to another command. The reason for this is to avoid the situation where somebody opened a JPEG, added layers, smart objects, transparency, type layers, etc. then did a Save As to JPEG to the same name, and later re-open the file to find out all their layers are gone and they can no longer edit the type for example. Well, that’s because JPEG doesn’t support things like transparency and layers, but they overwrote their original.

 

So you can’t save directly to a flattened format from Save As, but you can from Save a Copy which would not overwrite the original.

 

And again, because this is more or less an industry standard best practice at this point, while it’s possible to point to this complaining about some sort of bad design or incompetence, the fact is, someone who switches to an alternative image editor because of this is going to find that whatever they switch to might work the same way.

 

Now, not having webp in other commands is a legitimate thing to point out. They probably should. The one exception is Save for Web (Legacy). That command is supposed to be deprecated, on its way out which is why they added (Legacy) to the name. For that reason it’s unlikely to be updated for any reason including adding webp support. But it’s probably a good idea for them to add webp to their other, more modern export commands such as Export As, Quick Export, etc.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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quote

Thanks, I found it based on your suggestion.

we're used to looking for common formats in the usual places.

By @Balázs28016806xdji

 

 

You're welcome Baláz! 😊

 

When Apple changed their API, Adobe had no choice except to come up with another workaround, as they did once before. What they came up with in PS 22.4.2 was to either use Save a Copy or to enable Legacy Save As, as per the instructions from Ged.

 

Jane

 

 

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LEGEND ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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Oh and actually, AVIF, JPEG XL, and HEIC are all better technically than webP. WebP would probably be the last format of those I would choose after JPEG and PNG. Just saying.

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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Thank you! These formats are indeed promising, and they should be better supported. It seems there’s a bit of a gap in expanding the web export options to include these new image formats. I’d gladly use any of them if browsers supported them widely.

It would be great to see these formats integrated into Photoshop—just not in some hidden, hard-to-find way!

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LEGEND ,
Oct 03, 2024 Oct 03, 2024

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Right now its a weird horse race with no clear winner. Google, Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and a few others are the big players and everyone has their own interests to protect. That's probably why most web developers still just go with JPEG and PNG. I'd LOVE to see good native support for all of these but you know, money and politics...

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 04, 2024 Oct 04, 2024

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I tried AVIF, and it’s definitely a step ahead of webP. You can reduce image sizes by half or even a third compared to webP, and all three major browsers support it. Since the format is completely free, it could be easily integrated into Photoshop.

Right now, it’s only available through plugins, which is quite frustrating given that AVIF is one of the most advanced image formats. Meanwhile, formats like GIF, BMP, and WBMP are still built into Photoshop formats that are practically ancient.

How can a leading software stay competitive without supporting modern web image formats?

Photoshop should ideally support web design as well, and having these newer formats integrated natively would be a big step forward.

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