Macos – How to disable WebP images in Chrome

google-chromeimage conversionjpegmacos

Google Chrome sometimes takes a .jpg image and converts it to a .webp file.

The problem is that when I save this image to file, I cannot open the file. I have tried manually changing the extension of the file to ".jpg", but the file is still unreadable (without the use of external software).

Is there a way to completely disable .webp images in Chrome?

If not, is there an easy way or workaround to save an image that is presented as a WebP image, as a JPEG? The solution provided here does not work for me, as my URL contains no "-rw" suffix.

_{OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.}

Best Answer

Open-source solutions

WebP is an image format currently developed by Google, based on technology acquired with the purchase of On2 Technologies.

If the User-Agent field in your HTTP(S) request header reveals you are using a recent browser, content delivery network (CDN) servers may serve original .jpg or .png images in this new WebP format to reduce data traffic. Nonetheless, these served image files will keep their original file extension; what is truly misleading.

On GNU/Linux systems, one solution consists in downloading the original image file using either the wget or curl command.

Several Google Chrome extensions offer a way to save images served as WebP in another image format. However, only one extension is open-source software; which is Save image as Type.

This and all other similar extensions have one annoying drawback, though. Between saves, these extensions do not recall the directory to which the previous image was saved. This may or may not be due to Google's sand-boxing policy concerning extensions. Anyhow, I opened a GitHub issue about it.

Save image as Type

Solution #1

Here is my VBA macro to export all pictures from a workbook.
The pictures will be saved to a folder of your choice and Excel's internal object name is used as picture filename. The code is commented and not that difficult.

Sub ExportPictures()
    '## Open file dialog to choose a destination folder
    Set FOLDER = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
    FOLDER.AllowMultiSelect = False
    FOLDER.Show

    '## loop through all sheets and all pictures
    For Each WS In ThisWorkbook.Sheets
    For Each PIC In WS.Shapes

        '## create a chart with same dimensions as current picture
        '## subtract 0.5px from chart dimensions to avoid a strange border
        Set CH = WS.ChartObjects.Add(1, 1, PIC.Height, PIC.Width)

        '## save & temporarly disable the picture border
        PIC.Select
        PICBORDER = Selection.Border.LineStyle
        Selection.Border.LineStyle = 0

        '## copy the picture into chart. Only a chart could be exported
        PIC.Copy
        CH.Chart.ChartArea.Select
        CH.Chart.Paste

        '## re-enable the old picture border
        PIC.Select
        Selection.Border.LineStyle = PICBORDER

        '## export the chart as JPG. Change JPG to PNG if desired
        CH.Chart.Export Filename:=FOLDER.SelectedItems(1) & "\" & PIC.Name & ".jpg", FilterName:="JPG"

        '## delete chart to clean up our work
        CH.Cut

    Next PIC
    Next WS
End Sub

How to use

Open your Excel workbook and the VBA editor with Alt+F11
Paste the code somewhere and run it with F5 in the editor

Used resources

Solution #2

Use Graphics Exporter (Excel Add-In)

This add-in will allow you to export pictures, shapes, charts and more to image files.

enter image description here

64-bit problem

Even the new version for Office 2007 is compiled for 32-bit systems. It won't run on a 64-bit Windows unless you fix the code like explained on Stackoverflow.
I've done those small fixes for you. Download the 64-bit version here.

Google-chrome – Why does Google Chrome save a JPG image to WEBP instead

File extensions are quite irrelevant for HTTP: if the server says Content-Type: image/webp, then it's a WebP image, period. (Compare to how most websites don't use .html in their URLs anymore even though they serve HTML-based webpages.)

The original image uploaded to the website was an JPEG file; however, it is served to you through a "content delivery network" (Akamai in this case). The CDN's job is to host these files and reduce load on the website's real servers, but many CDNs provide various optimization features to save bandwidth for clients as well – this often includes re-compressing images, minifying JS/CSS files, and so on.

Akamai looks at the HTTP request's User-Agent header to guess what the best format supported by your browser would be (although, oddly, it ignores the Accept header) and automatically converts the image to WebP whenever it wants to. The URL remains the same, but the response's Content-Type header indicates the new format.

Other than installing a "User Agent spoofer" extension or trying a different browser, you could also copy the URL and use the curl or wget tools through Terminal to download it (macOS should have at least one of them built-in). The CDN will usually exempt "non-browser" tools from the webpification feature.

curl -Of https://mosaic03.ztat.net/vgs/media/catalog-lg/NI/12/2O/0H/NQ/12/NI122O0HN-Q12@9.jpg