Save WebP files to Original Format Easily in Firefox

[jscher2000]

(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 

[Sp4X]

Sure, here you go: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/save-webp-files-to-original-format-easily-in-firefox/idc-p/1855...

[Barthélémy]

Hi,  As usual I have no idea whatsoever what any of this means. I don't know what about:config is or how to go there, wherever "there" is, and what follows is incomprehensible. There is no doubt a huge age gap here.

And I have to wonder what "Making moves" means, coming from that vitally diminutive slavic vampire...

Anyway, I still have found nothing that works for me to download webp as jpg so as to be able to work with them with Photoshop (old version), and I'd greatly appreciate a bit of help that I can translate.

[Sp4X]

These are my solutions:

1. In a web browser, the address bar is the element that shows the current URL. The user can type a URL into it to navigate to a chosen website so type about:config in address bar and ignore the warning message. Then in search field, search for image.http.accept and type image/png, image/jpeg, image/gif

Voilà!

2. Maybe just try to use Firefox for Developers? I just checked, and I have no problems saving images with their original extension on default settings.. or maybe all images I see around in web are just all diffirent extansions than webp 😑🤷‍♂️

3. Try to download a plugin for photoshop which will allow you to open webp images

[Sp4X]

Btw, I just checked GIPHY on Firefox for Developers on default settings and I can still download gif's with gif extansion so where is the problem? 😂

[G_B]

Hello, first of all, my thanks to Sp4X for the solution offered! That worked for me until one of the latest Firefox updates (I suppose the version responible for the issue is Firefox 125.0.2 - 20240419144423): now the webp nightmare XD has come back. Further assistance would be appreciated!

[jscher2000]

Hi @G_B, are you sure the preference wasn't reset? If Firefox offered to perform a Refresh, Tune-up, or required a new profile, and you did any of those, it's normal for preferences to be reset.

[G_B_]

Hello, jscher2000, thank you for replying! Checking the preference was the first thing I tried, I asked for assistance here after verifying that it didn't change (it's still "image/png, image/jpeg, image/gif").

[GB_]

Hello, after the latest Firefox update the situation got even worse. Websites that until yesterday allowed to download jpg images now only give the webp option. It's not a website problem, since another PC without the latest Firefox update is still able to download the jpg images (I mean that the same image from the same website is downloaded as jpg on the PC without the latest Firefox update, and as webp in the PC with the updated Firefox. Before the update, that same image was downloaded as jpg in the now updated PC as well). As a person who downloads many images (and yes, I want the original format file. Webp is not an option), Firefox is becoming increasingly impossible to use. If anyone can offer any solution it would be appreciated.

[jscher2000]

@GB_wrote:

---

Hello, after the latest Firefox update the situation got even worse. Websites that until yesterday allowed to download jpg images now only give the webp option. 

---

Firefox 128 now sends fuller "Accept" headers to websites. The following article shows the updated headers: https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Web/HTTP/Content_negotiation/List_of_default_Accept_values. However, image/webp was in the Accept headers in Firefox 127 and earlier, so there's no obvious reason for a change in behavior. 

If you previously entered your own headers in about:config, you could check whether your custom values for the following preferences got wiped out:

• image.http.accept
• network.http.accept

If you are using either of my add-ons and they stopped working, could you send me a message (either on this platform or on jscher2000@outlook.com) or open an issue on the respective Github indicating which sites have a problem in Firefox 128 that worked for you in Firefox 127:

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/dont-accept-webp/ - Issues: https://github.com/jscher2000/dont-accept-webp/issues
• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/save-webp-as-png-or-jpeg/ - Issues: https://github.com/jscher2000/Save-webP-as-extension/issues

[GB__]

Hello, jscher2000, your replies are always appreciated :). I concur that there seems to be no obvious reason for a change in behaviour, yet I doubt the issue was a coincidence, considering the various points mentioned in my previous comment (what I'm sure about is that from now on I will ignore Firefox updates. As much as it's not recommended, it's really too much trouble and wasted time whenever the webp issue recurs).

My custom value for the image.http.accept preference was still as Sp4X kindly suggested ("image/png, image/jpeg, image/gif"), Firefox never wiped it out. I never modified the network.http.accept preference, hadn't read anything about it, and it wasn't necessary before. So thank you for mentioning it: I modified that too, and now the website that yesterday started giving only the webp option allows to save the images as jpg as it should be.
Hoping that this will be useful to anyone that experienced the same issue as I did, I modified the network.http.accept preference to "*/*".

Again, my thanks to everyone who shared their knowledge to help :).

[Sp4X]

Hello everyone,

I've just checked this, because I'm not by default using standard version of Firefox so I downloaded the newest version 128.0.2 now and everything still works as it should, of course after changing value of image.http.accept to image/png, image/jpeg, image/gif and restarting the browser.