Is it normal that .webp images are delivered as JPEG in Safari?

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A user uploaded WebP images to their Shopify store but discovered that Safari and iPad browsers receive JPEG files instead, despite the URL ending in .webp. Network inspection shows Content-Type: image/jpeg in the response headers.

The user confirmed that:

  • Safari supports WebP on both macOS and iOS
  • The browser sends correct Accept headers including image/webp
  • The CDN still delivers JPEG format

Key questions raised:

  • Is this expected Shopify behavior?
  • Does Shopify’s CDN re-encode or override WebP based on the original upload format or internal logic?
  • Is there a method to ensure actual WebP delivery to compatible browsers?

The issue remains unresolved with no responses yet. The user is seeking confirmation from others experiencing similar behavior.

Summarized with AI on October 26. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi everyone,

I’ve noticed something strange regarding image delivery in Shopify. I uploaded WebP images to my store, and when I inspect the network requests in Safari (or when emulating an iPad in Chrome), I see that the images—despite having a .webp file extension—are being served with the content-type: image/jpeg.

Example request:

URL: https://[myshop].com/cdn/shop/files/example.webp?width=533
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Safari supports WebP (confirmed on macOS and iOS), and my browser sends the correct Accept headers including image/webp. Yet the CDN still delivers JPEG instead of WebP.

Is this normal behavior? Does Shopify override or re-encode WebP images depending on the original upload format or CDN logic? And is there any way to reliably serve actual WebP to supported browsers?

Appreciate any insights or confirmation from others seeing the same behavior. Thanks!