Chrome Saves Images as WebP — How to Fix It

You right-click an image on a website, hit "Save image as," and the file saves as a .webp instead of .jpg. You can’t attach it to an email, import it into an older app, or share it easily. This is Chrome (and Edge) working as intended — but it’s not what most people want. Here are three ways to get a JPG.

Why Chrome Saves Images as WebP

Chrome downloads images in the format the website serves — and modern websites increasingly serve WebP because it’s 25-35% smaller than JPG, which speeds up page loads. When Chrome loads the page, it receives WebP images. When you right-click and save, Chrome saves what it received: the WebP.

The original JPG (if one existed) was on the web server. What your browser got was the WebP version the server sent for bandwidth efficiency. Chrome isn’t doing anything wrong — it’s saving exactly what it downloaded.

Fix 1: Convert the WebP to JPG After Downloading

This is the simplest fix and works every time:

1. Save the image normally (right-click → Save image as → save the .webp file).
2. Go to Jay WebP to JPG.
3. Drop the WebP in, convert, download the JPG.

Total time: under 30 seconds. If you regularly download images, this becomes a fast reflex — download the WebP, run it through the converter, done.

This is also the best option if you’re downloading batches of images: save them all as WebP, then batch-convert them all in one pass.

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Fix 2: Right-Click the Image URL Directly

Sometimes websites use a JPG URL that’s being converted to WebP at the CDN level. In those cases:

1. Right-click the image → Open image in new tab.
2. Look at the URL in the address bar. If the URL ends in .jpg or .jpeg, the CDN is doing on-the-fly WebP conversion.
3. You can sometimes edit the URL — remove the WebP-related query parameters or change the extension — to force the original JPG.

This doesn’t always work (many modern sites serve WebP natively, not via URL parameters), but it’s worth checking when the URL looks like a JPG path.

Fix 3: Inspect Element to Find the Source

For sites that use <picture> elements with multiple sources:

1. Right-click the image → Inspect.
2. In DevTools, find the <picture> tag. Inside it, look for a <source> with type="image/webp" and another with type="image/jpeg".
3. The JPEG source URL is the original. Open that URL directly in a new tab and save it.

This works on many news sites, e-commerce sites, and image-heavy pages where the original JPG is still available in the markup — the browser just defaulted to the WebP version because Chrome supports it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Chrome keep saving images as WebP instead of JPG?

Chrome saves images in the format the server sent. Modern websites send WebP because it's smaller. Chrome is saving the correct format — just not the one you wanted.

Can I make Chrome always save images as JPG?

Not natively. Chrome has no built-in setting to force JPG downloads. Your options are to convert after downloading or use a browser extension that intercepts image saves.

Does Edge have the same WebP saving problem as Chrome?

Yes. Edge is Chromium-based and behaves identically — it saves images in the format served by the website.

What's the fastest way to convert a Chrome-downloaded WebP to JPG?

Drop the WebP into Jay WebP to JPG in your browser. Conversion is instant and the JPG downloads immediately.