How to disable WebP images in Chrome?
Google Chrome sometimes takes a .jpg image and converts it to a .webp file.
The problem is that when I save this image to file, I cannot open the file. I have tried manually changing the extension of the file to ".jpg", but the file is still unreadable (without the use of external software).
Is there a way to completely disable .webp images in Chrome?
If not, is there an easy way or workaround to save an image that is presented as a WebP image, as a JPEG? The solution provided here does not work for me, as my URL contains no "-rw" suffix.
OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.
Solution 1:
Open-source solutions
WebP is an image format currently developed by Google, based on technology acquired with the purchase of On2 Technologies.
If the User-Agent field in your HTTP(S) request header reveals you are using a recent browser, content delivery network (CDN) servers may serve original .jpg or .png images in this new WebP format to reduce data traffic. Nonetheless, these served image files will keep their original file extension; what is truly misleading.
On GNU/Linux systems, one solution consists in downloading the original image file using either the wget or curl command.
Several Google Chrome extensions offer a way to save images served as WebP in another image format. However, only one extension is open-source software; which is Save image as Type.
This and all other similar extensions have one annoying drawback, though. Between saves, these extensions do not recall the directory to which the previous image was saved. This may or may not be due to Google's sand-boxing policy concerning extensions. Anyhow, I opened a GitHub issue about it.
Solution 2:
Method 1 provided by @Darius half works, but needs to be combined with a second modification. Changing the User-Agent alone does not fully solve the problem as the image server may also look at the HTTP "Accept" Request Header that lists the file formats the browser is compatible with. For chrome, the default Accept Header is "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,image/apng,/;q=0.8". Removing the image/webp format from that list and changing the User-Agent solves the problem. To do this:
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Install the chrome extension ModHeader. Use that to change the "Accept" Heder to "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/apng,/;q=0.8".
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Install User-Agent Switcher and change to a browser such as Internet Explorer 9 that does not support webp. So that this does not break your internet viewing experience across the web, you may want to use the "Permanent Spoof List" feature by right clicking the extension icon and selecting "Options". This allows you to change the user-agent only on certain websites.
Solution 3:
I found a possible solution to this. I simply added a question mark (?) to the end of the url and was able to download the image. So for example:
https://www.fritolay.com/sites/fritolay.com/files/2019-08/Desk-Where-to-Buy.jpg This link downloads with webp extention when i go to "save image as"
https://www.fritolay.com/sites/fritolay.com/files/2019-08/Desk-Where-to-Buy.jpg? This link downloads as jpg when I "save image as"
Please test and confirm is this works for anyone else.