Turn PNG files into WebP in your own browser

Content last reviewed:2026-09-30

Add your PNG files and download WebP files with their transparency kept. In our measurement a high-resolution camera photo went from 11.1 MB to 614.5 KB, and every one of the eight files came out smaller.

Files in queue

Add PNG files on the left to start converting to WebP.

What is PNG and what is WebP?

PNG is a lossless format: it keeps every pixel of the image, stores full transparency and opens in every browser[1]. W3C approved the third edition of the specification on 24 June 2025. It describes lossless storage by the deflate method, 8 or 16 bits per colour channel, an alpha channel and APNG animation[2].

WebP is described by RFC 9649 from November 2024. The format stores an image lossily or losslessly, carries a full alpha channel and holds animation[3]. Current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera and Safari support it[4].

Turning PNG into WebP gives you the same image with its transparency, in a far lighter file. In our measurement every one of the eight files came out smaller: the landscape photo went from 3.06 MB to 213.0 KB, and even the icon with transparency at 256 × 256 pixels came out 26 percent smaller.

A graphics tablet with a stylus and a mouse on a desk mat — WebP suits both photographs and graphics with a transparent background, because it stores either one. Photo: Workperch, Unsplash.

How do you convert PNG to WebP?

Drag your files onto the Add files area, or click it to pick them from your disk. Any number of PNG files is fine, each up to 100 MB.
Set the Set WebP quality slider between 60 and 95 percent; it starts at 80 and the current value sits beside its name.
Click Convert. Every finished file gets the Done status.
Save one file with Download, or all of them with Download all, which packs several into a ZIP archive. Only the extension changes, to .webp.

The queue shows every file with its Before and After weight, the difference in percent, and the batch totals.

Move the slider and finished files go back to Pending, so the next Convert saves them at the new value.

Remove takes one file out of the queue, Clear all empties it.

Everything happens in your own browser: the PNG file is read by an image element, and the WebP is written by the browser, or by libwebp when it cannot.

How much does a file weigh before and after PNG to WebP conversion?

Eight PNG files went through this converter at the default quality of 80 percent: two Unsplash photos at different resolutions, a product photo, a leaf macro, a real screenshot with text, a logo and an icon with a transparent background, and a page of text at scanner resolution. Weights are written the way the tool prints them in the queue: in kilobytes and megabytes of 1024 bytes, with the same rounding. We took the measurement ourselves on 11 September 2026 in a Chromium browser, and the result depends on the content of the image, so your file may come out differently.

Test file	Dimensions in pixels	PNG	WebP	Change
Landscape photo	1920 × 1280	3.06 MB	213.0 KB	14.7 times smaller
High-resolution camera photo	4000 × 2667	11.1 MB	614.5 KB	18.5 times smaller
Product photo on a light background	1200 × 1200	2.12 MB	237.5 KB	9.1 times smaller
Leaf macro with fine detail	1600 × 2015	6.52 MB	955.6 KB	7 times smaller
Screenshot with text	1440 × 900	100.5 KB	45.4 KB	2.2 times smaller
Logo with a transparent background	1024 × 1024	52.1 KB	19.7 KB	2.6 times smaller
Icon with transparency	256 × 256	6.57 KB	4.83 KB	26 percent smaller
Text page, as from a scanner	1654 × 2339	240.1 KB	142.6 KB	41 percent smaller

The weight of your own file before and after conversion sits in the Before and After fields of the queue.

How much lighter is WebP than PNG?

Photographs gain the most. The high-resolution camera photo at 4000 × 2667 pixels went from 11.1 MB to 614.5 KB, which is 18.5 times smaller, and the landscape photo came out 14.7 times smaller. The reason is the way it is stored: our converter writes WebP lossily, so it drops part of the colour information the eye cannot separate[3].

Files that PNG already packs well go down less. The screenshot with text (1440 × 900) came out 2.2 times smaller and the icon with transparency came out 26 percent smaller. At that size a few kilobytes change nothing about how fast a page loads, so interface graphics can safely stay as PNG.

The Set WebP quality slider decides the weight more than anything else, and the pixel dimensions stay as they were; you set smaller ones in the Helios editor. When the file has to reach a program that does not open WebP, pick the PNG to JPG converter, and the way back is the WebP to PNG converter.

PNG versus WebP: how do the formats differ?

The table gathers the properties that decide which format suits a photograph and which suits a graphic with a transparent background.

Property	PNG	WebP
Storage	lossless, by the deflate method	lossy or lossless
Transparency	yes, a full alpha channel	yes, a full alpha channel
Bits per colour channel	8 or 16	8
Animation in the file	yes, as APNG	yes, in ANIM and ANMF chunks
Browser support	every version of every browser	current versions of every browser
What our converter writes	the image as it came in	lossy WebP at the slider value, from 60 to 95 percent

PNG according to the W3C specification[2], WebP according to RFC 9649[3], browser support according to Can I use[4].

Which PNG files does the converter take?

We checked every row on files put through the converter on 15 September 2026. The right column says what you get.

The file you add	What the converter writes in WebP
A photo or graphic saved as PNG	a WebP at the same pixel dimensions, with an sRGB colour profile
A PNG with a transparent background	a WebP with a transparent background, because the format carries an alpha channel
A PNG with a semi-transparent shadow or glow	a WebP with the semi-transparent shadow kept as it was
A PNG with 16 bits per colour channel	a WebP with 8 bits per channel, because that is all the format has
An animated PNG (APNG)	the first frame of the animation, and the queue carries a note: This file is animated, so only the first frame is saved.
A file with EXIF data, for example a rotated photo	a WebP with no EXIF data, but in the orientation stored in that data
A file larger than 100 MB	the message File is too large (max 100 MB).
A damaged file, or text with a .png extension	the Error status and the message Failed to load the image.

Files in other formats are skipped as they are added, with the message: Add PNG files. Files in other formats were skipped.

What happens to transparency, colours and EXIF data?

Transparency reaches WebP in full: both a transparent background and semi-transparent pixels, a soft shadow under a graphic among them. The same image saved as JPG would get white in that place, so for graphics with a transparent background WebP is the only one of the two that works.

EXIF data does not reach the WebP file, so the date, the device model and the coordinates of the place disappear from it. The orientation stored in that data is applied. Every file from our converter carries an sRGB colour profile, and the colour is stored on 8 bits per channel[1].

Lossy storage cannot be undone, so it is worth keeping the PNG originals. An image to paste straight into the code of a page comes from the image to Base64 converter, and a file for a program that does not open WebP from the PNG to JPG converter.

Convert other files to WebP

JPG to WebP SVG to WebP GIF to WebP BMP to WebP AVIF to WebP HEIC to WebP TIFF to WebP PDF to WebP Base64 to WebP

Convert PNG to other formats

PNG to JPG PNG to BMP PNG to AVIF PNG to GIF PNG to TIFF PNG to PDF PNG to Base64

Sources

Image file type and format guide — MDN Web Docs
Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Third Edition) — W3C
RFC 9649: WebP Image Format — RFC Editor
WebP image format — Can I use

The file sizes in the tables were measured by running finished images through this converter in a browser, and we report them the way the tool counts them. What the page says about either format rests on the sources listed above.

Content last reviewed: September 30, 2026 · written and checked by the Arteon team

Common questions about turning PNG into WebP

How do you turn PNG into WebP for free?

Drag your PNG files onto the Add files area, click Convert and save the result with Download all. The converter is free, needs no account, and your files stay on your own device.

Does WebP keep a transparent background?

Yes. WebP carries a full alpha channel, so a transparent background and a semi-transparent shadow come out the same as in the PNG file.

How much does a WebP weigh compared with a PNG?

In our measurement every one of the eight files came out smaller: the landscape photo came out 14.7 times smaller, the screenshot with text came out 2.2 times smaller and the icon with transparency came out 26 percent smaller. Your result depends on the content of the image.

Will a WebP open for everyone?

Current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera and Safari display WebP, and so do Windows and macOS. If the file has to reach an older graphics program, JPG or PNG is the safer pick.

Which slider value should I pick?

Start at the default 80 percent and look at the result zoomed in. Raise it for graphics with sharp text, and you can lower it for a large photo used as a page background. The weight of every file sits in the queue.

Can I convert many files at once?

Yes. The queue takes any number of files, each up to 100 MB, and you can add them in batches because it keeps the earlier ones. The Download all button packs the finished files into a single ZIP archive.

Does the converter remove EXIF data?

Yes. The WebP file gets no EXIF data, so the date, the device model and the coordinates of the place disappear from it. The orientation from that data is applied, so a rotated photo comes out rotated.