How to open or create WebP files in GIMP

GIMP does not bring support for free format Web, created a few years ago by Google. This format boasts of providing a quality similar al JPEG in a quite smaller size. It is based on the same technology applied to the Webm video format, also free. Fortunately, there is a plugin for GIMP that allows adding this functionality. With it, it will be possible to load and save files with the WebP image format.

Installation

En Ubuntu and derivatives:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa: george-edison55 / webp sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install gimp-webp

En Arch and derivatives:

yaourt -S gimp-webp-bzr
All modern browsers support Webp.

Use

Once the plugin is installed, the loading of webp images is transparent to the user. It is the same as with any other image.

To save files in this format, just open GIMP and go to File> Export and select WebP for Files of type. Then, you will be able to specify a quality factor that can range from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the larger the size of the produced file and the better the image quality.


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