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jscher2000
Leader
Status: Trending idea

(Re-post of Crowdicity post which had 40 votes)

Unfortunately, many programs are not compatible/interoperable with the WebP format. Users need a simple way to save images in traditional formats such as JPEG, PNG, and Animated GIF, which often is available from the server.

Background

Since Firefox added image/webp to its Accept headers, server farms often add WebP compression to JPEG, PNG, and Animated GIF files, changing the internal file format without modifying the file extension. That is transparent to users, but there is an issue: when using Save Image As..., Firefox saves the WebP format.

Sites also are starting to use the <picture> tag with a WebP <source> that overrides the traditional format in the <img> tag.

Firefox users often want the original image format to facilitate editing in programs that don't accept WebP, or for other reasons. Whatever the reason, because Firefox doesn't make it convenient, they often resort to using Chrome instead.

Parity with Chrome

In Google Chrome, if the file name has its original .jpg or .png extension, the browser saves in the original format. This appears to be done through a re-request to the server, which is similar to the workaround employed by some Firefox users of opening the Page Info dialog, Media panel, and using the Save As button (this request does not include image/webp in the Accept headers).

Other Evidence

I can tell this is a pain point based on Mozilla Support and r/Firefox posts, and because my WebP-related extensions have a surprisingly large number of users:

* "Save webP as PNG or JPEG (Converter)" - 14,757 users as of 6 March 2022 36,742 users as of Jan. 29, 2023 ( https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/save-webp-as-png-or-jpeg/ )
* "Don't "Accept" image/webp"- 7,092 users as of 6 March 2022 16,773 users as of Jan. 29, 2023 ( https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/dont-accept-webp/ )

So please, UX folks, take a look at this!

Related Idea

Clipboard functionality should save .webp images as .png 

19 Comments
knasiotis
Strollin' around

This idea https://mozilla.crowdicity.com/post/733830
mentions the need to save .webp images as png/jpg and provides add-on alternatives.
This is important for compatibility with other applications.

However, it does not mention the case where right clicking an image -> copy image, firefox (supposedly) saves the image as a .webp on the clipboard. When I want to paste that image in other applications (e.g. Messenger) the image is read as a file. Chromium based browsers do not have this issue (maybe chromium converts the image as .jpg/png or changes the file extension).

I believe firefox should have a similar behavior to Chromium because, as things are, we have to screenshot the images we find and this is not a QoL solution, it's frustrating

The only alternative is to disable .webp files in about:config which will probably break some websites or make the browsing experience slower

Status changed to: New idea
Jon
Community Manager
Community Manager

Thanks for submitting an idea to Mozilla Connect. Your post is now open to the community for votes (kudos) and comments. 

Mte90
Making moves

Well this is a behavior by websites. Let me explain, website provide URLs with jpg or png but if the browser support WebP redirect the request content as webp, so the browser will get that.

In this way the file extension that is a mere convention is ignored and save as webp.
So it is a normal behavior, instead you are asking to the browser to convert the image to another format on save that is something maybe to specific.

bizhuy
Strollin' around

In the mean time (or if this isn't ever implemented), instead of screenshotting, if you're on Windows 10 you can press Win + Shift + S to use screen capture. This method offers more options to you, such as selecting exactly the area that you want to copy, although you have to select it manually since there isn't a "select object" feature.

knasiotis
Strollin' around

@Mte90  In Chromium, when you save or copy to the clipboard a webp file it is converted to jpg or png (I don't remember exactly). The same image, provided by the same website, firefox saves it as webp. While this is the appropriate behavior, it would be nice to be able to have an integrated conversion mechanism during these processes (copy/save) for cross-application compatibility.

I am making this suggestion, (it can be simple toggle in about:config) because it would be easier to avoid screenshotting like @bizhuy suggested (I'm using ShareX btw), or converting the saved images later on.

Consequently, firefox would be more friendly to use.

Mte90
Making moves

I didn't know of this behavior in Chrome so maybe can be implemented just for sake of similar behaviour.

Deepanshu
Making moves

Please make it so that it doesn't download images in webp format!

Status changed to: Trending idea
Jon
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hey all,

Here with an exciting update…

Your idea has quickly received a great deal of votes (kudos) and support here in the Mozilla Connect community, so we are upgrading the status to “Trending idea.” This means it’s now one step closer to reaching our internal teams for review—learn more about The Idea Journey.

Please keep the conversation going and stay tuned for updates 😃

-The Community Team

Sp4X
New member

Why not just go to about:config, search for image.http.accept, and type: image/png, image/jpeg, image/gif ??

It's works for me 😄

Vitalik
Making moves

👍👍👍💋