Solved

Images save as WEBP file now when right clicking to download

Nicky_Jessen
Visitor
2 0 1

Not sure if this is something new or not but when I go to right-click to 'save image as' on my Shopify site, it only saves as webp file, which then cannot be opened by my normal programs on my PC.

 

Is this a new thing and what is the best way to download an image from my site online? I have a virtual assistant helping with social media and they usually use 'save image as' and then they have the jpeg file.

Accepted Solution (1)

PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6274 573 1319

This is an accepted solution.


@Nicky_Jessen wrote:

...

Is this a new thing and what is the best way to download an image from my site online? I have a virtual assistant helping with social media and they usually use 'save image as' and then they have the jpeg file.


Now have them open the image in a new tab -> change the new tabs url extension to .jpg and hit enter -> now 'save image as'

Save time & money ,Ask Questions The Smart Way


Confused? Busy? Get the solution you need paull.newton+shopifyforum@gmail.com


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Replies 20 (20)

Katy
Shopify Staff
779 43 178

Hi, @Nicky_Jessen !

 

Katy here from Shopify. I hope all is well with you and welcome to our Community here! 

 

Great question! This relates to the new launch that we have made recently for store optimization - notably with images and how these are compressed. You can find some info on this launch here and also in more detail in our changelog here.  WebP is a modern image format which has been developed by Google. We are now working with this to help bring the fastest speed to all stores.

 

There is more detailed info on working with the WebP format here. Though in relation to your query, in order to be able to download these images or access them natively at the moment, I would suggest to use a browser such as Safari as WebP images are not supported on this browser. There is some more info on this here, outlining which browsers support this format at present. In Windows, you may also rename the WebP file extension .jpg to open it as a .jpg file in Microsoft Photos or MS paint.

 

Feel free to let me know how this goes for you, or if you have any additional questions. 

 

Cheers,
Katy

Please note: This account is no longer regularly monitored.
 - If you need assistance please do start a new topic (referencing an older topic/post if you find this helpful).
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sjunaid12
Visitor
1 0 1
but when I download a WebP as JPG or simply WebP, i am not able to upload that image on another store. so, does this WebP format is one way only?
Jmcecu2005
Visitor
1 0 2

I don't like the new change where images are saved as WEBP files.  Please return to the old way where I can save directly as JPEG/JPG files.  The WEBP page adds a couple of additional steps to editing images. And when I am editing hundreds of images, this slows me down considerably. Please return to the old way of saving image files. Thanks for allowing me to comment. Jean

Katy
Shopify Staff
779 43 178

Hi All,

 

Apologies for the delayed response here and thank you all for posting.  

 

This  transition to use Google's WebP image format has been made in order to optimize performance. WebP is a modern image format that provides superior compression for images on the web compared to traditional file formats like PNG and JPEG. This means faster load times for your customers when viewing your store. 

 

We will not be reverting this I am afraid, however there are some additional workarounds which may help. Thanks to @PaulNewton for their helpful suggestion here.  If this no longer works there are some additional options which you can use:

 

  • To use Safari (or a browser which does not support WEBP images) to download your image files. This may help in your case @Jmcecu2005 if you have quite a few files.
  • In cases where the above is not possible, there is the option to append format=jpg to the end of the image URL. Depending on the formatting of the link you will either need to use &format=jpg or ?format=jpg. I have included some examples below:  

 

When working from a CDN URL (in your admin > settings > files for example):

 

When working directly from an image: 

  • Right click on the image, and do a `copy image address`. Append format=jpg following the above guidelines for the application of &format=jpg or ?format=jpg to the URL generated.
 
I do hope this helps.  Thanks again for your feedback and thoughts here, I'll be sure to pass this along to our internal team.

 

Cheers,

Katy

 

Please note: This account is no longer regularly monitored.
 - If you need assistance please do start a new topic (referencing an older topic/post if you find this helpful).
 - Thank you for your understanding. We hope you enjoy exploring the Community.
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog.

letterfest
Tourist
10 1 6

Hi,

The solution doesn't work if you are trying to get lots of images from customers orders. We need to download hundreds a week and amending each url isn't scalable. Could you have an option in the download section of an order that allows us to download as a jpg instead?

Failing this, could I amend the liquid files in my theme to accomplish this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Bob

ArchitechproOU
Shopify Partner
99 2 15

Hi @letterfest, you may consider using Mega Image Exporter app in case if you need to export product images. It can export images for thousands of products at once and has various filters to choose only images you need right now.

letterfest
Tourist
10 1 6

Thanks, but this is not the solution. We want tit for customers that upload their own images when ordering a personalised product from us. 

Anyone else have a solution? 

 

Elisa11
New Member
4 0 0

So which browsers currently do not support Webp pictures, available for Windows? I cannot change the url as instructed earlier of the pictures that I need downloaded. It would be easier if we could atleast download the pictures in Webp format also? Thanks.

Stephhrev
Excursionist
33 0 7

Hey!

 

Did you ever find a solution? I am in the same boat. I want my images to be downloadable from my website so that my wholesale customers can add straight to their own website. Otherwise I am having to upload all the images elsewhere which is just too time consuming. Thanks!

movies
Tourist
6 0 1

Clearly one of the worst and time-consuming changes I've ever seen on the entire internet over the last 25 years! It's downright stupid, IMHO. To save a zillionth of a second to view an image, it now requires the average user to waste hours copying, pasting, using other graphics programs, just convert back to the standard jpg or png format.

It's totally amazing! I upload a simple jpg image to my store and cannot download it in a usable form. It essentially get corrupted by this unasked for modification. For example, if I right click the image on my product page, it CANNOT be saved as a jpg, but forces me to save as a WEBP. Even the name of the file gets a string of 15 coded letters and numbers. 

I can find few major online sites, besides Shopify, that will accept the WEBP format. Not Fine Art America, not Printify, not even the new Placit, a great mockup generator. IOW, if I want to capture an image from my Shopify page and use it on Placeit to create some new mockups to add to my Shopify page, I'm SOL! I have to waste time copying, pasting to some other costly graphics program like Photoshop, then save it as a jpg. And then I can upload it to the other 99.9% of websites that accept uploads. Even Youtube and Vimeo won't take a WEBP. Nor will Fiverr. Why in the world would any company convert a the most commonly used jpg formatted file to a format that only 1% of websites can accept? 

Considering that I need to copy my Shopify store images to create other mockups to load back to my store, this means Shopify is unusable for me, at least.

MayurT
Visitor
1 0 0

Hi Katy,
We are using image URL in SSRS report service in that report image not showing.
Can you please suggest how can we download direct in jpg.
Thanks

SusanRB
Shopify Partner
11 0 3

At the same time I was reading the Shopify developers blog post about Webp and testing our pages, my boss called me to say he couldn't download the photos for an ad like he normally does. 

We can use the jpgs from our business software, so the small inconvenience this will cause is well worth our webpages loading much faster! Very happy that Shopify made this change. Hope you can find a good solution as well.   

PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6274 573 1319

This is an accepted solution.


@Nicky_Jessen wrote:

...

Is this a new thing and what is the best way to download an image from my site online? I have a virtual assistant helping with social media and they usually use 'save image as' and then they have the jpeg file.


Now have them open the image in a new tab -> change the new tabs url extension to .jpg and hit enter -> now 'save image as'

Save time & money ,Ask Questions The Smart Way


Confused? Busy? Get the solution you need paull.newton+shopifyforum@gmail.com


Problem Solved? ✔Accept and Like solutions to help future merchants

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Nicky_Jessen
Visitor
2 0 1

Thanks for that Paul. Simple.

PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6274 573 1319

No problem if they have to do that ALOT for multiple images on a page then consider making a bookmarklet to change all the image extensions with javascript.

If they have to do it across multiple pages might want to build a browser extension.

Save time & money ,Ask Questions The Smart Way


Confused? Busy? Get the solution you need paull.newton+shopifyforum@gmail.com


Problem Solved? ✔Accept and Like solutions to help future merchants

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7107digital
Visitor
1 0 3

@PaulNewton 


@PaulNewton wrote:

@Nicky_Jessen wrote:

...

Is this a new thing and what is the best way to download an image from my site online? I have a virtual assistant helping with social media and they usually use 'save image as' and then they have the jpeg file.


Now have them open the image in a new tab -> change the new tabs url extension to .jpg and hit enter -> now 'save image as'


This no longer works.

RachelHSS
Excursionist
12 0 3

@Jmcecu2005 @Elisa11 @letterfest 

Hello, I spent a while looking into this after a co-worker just asked me about it (I had noticed it as well, but I don't download a lot of pictures for this sort of purpose, so hasn't been a big issue for me). I found a pretty workable option for her, and I had come across this thread while researching, so thought I'd share. It's not the ideal long-term solution but since no one has offered one yet, perhaps this will be helpful for someone. There are a couple of Chrome extensions that give you the option to save a WebP file as a JPG or PNG. I looked at 3 different ones and tested 2 and I like this one: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webp-avif-image-converter/pbcfbdlbkdfobidmdoondbgdfpjolhci...

 

It gives the most options in terms of what file type you want to save, where it's saved, and file naming. So you can use that to save images off of Shopify sites as JPG/PNG.

 

But this one also worked (the only instance I can imagine this one having an advantage is if you're not downloading in a consistent format, i.e. regularly alternating between downloading as JPG and PNG. But if you consistently want to download in the same file type, this one adds an extra step to select file type each time).
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/save-image-as-type/gabfmnliflodkdafenbcpjdlppllnemd?hl=en

It's also worth noting that if you are downloading the images from your a Shopify site you have access to, you can download the original file within Shopify instead of downloading the converted file from the CDN on your live storefront (i.e. go into the product listing, click on the image, and then click download. Or if it's on a different type of page, go to your files in Shopify menu and then find the image (you can search by name) and download from there (click on the image thumbnail and then you'll see the download icon on the pop up window)). 

 

Hope this helps!

misterm
Shopify Partner
1 0 0

Another way that works on MacOS is to use the dwebp command through your terminal to convert the webp file to jpg or png. 

 

1. Right click and open image in new tab.

2. Save the image into your preferred folder and make sure it saves with the .webp extension.

3. With your terminal, navigate to your folder containing the webp files.

4. convert using this example command: dwebp yourfile.webp -o newfile.jpg

5. Repeat for each image you want to convert, or get fancy and automate it using a bash script.

 

Note: dwebp / cwebp is a program that should already be present on your MacOS
cwebp converts jpg or anything to webp using the same command in 4 but with 'cwebp' to start

jrl1283
Visitor
1 0 0

This is also causing issues with the meta tag og:image since there are services that don't support webp images in this tag. For example, Whatsapp only accepts jpeg and png images 

niknah
Visitor
1 0 0

format=jpg isn't working for me.  Still downloads as .webp