Native WebP image support

[TPS]

As detailed in isaacs/github#976 & probably others, fully supporting WebP across GitHub would be appreciated.

[adamsilverstein]

This came up again recently in the WordPress Performance Lab plugin repository where we are working on adding WebP support. Contributors can't upload WebP image samples on issues (WordPress/performance#7 (comment))

[aricooperdavis]

Github also cannot preview WebP images in the blob/file preview pane, instead showing "View Raw"; for example:

[krystof-k]

Yes please. Also in diffs. This shouldn't be that hard.

[porg]

1. As a UX designer I 'd like to embed screenshots / mockups in WebP format in issue submissions.
2. If you at Github implement native WebP support, please ensure that it auto-detects high resolution screenshots / screendesigns from the resolution encoded in the image metadata, as Github already does fine with @2x PNGs.
   • For PNGs Github interprets the PNG-pHYs metadata:
   • The counterpart in WebP would be the Exif chunk at the file end which can contain the Exif attributes:
     ResolutionUnit (1 = None, 2 = inches, 3 = cm) + XResolution + YResolution
   • How does Github interpret PPI in PNGs currently:
     • Explicit 72 PPI or no PPI in metadata → @1x
     • 144 PPI → @2x.
     • 216 PPI as @3x and 288 PPI as @4x are currently not supported.
       • If you implement high resolution support for WebP too, maybe an opportunity to look into @3x and @4x for all supported image formats.

[paperclypse]

I would love it if GitHub support webp images.

[austin-schaefer]

The lack of webp support is a major pain point for docs sites and other static sites hosted on GitHub. Our repo recently converted all our images from png to webp (reducing our footprint by like 80%). But we can no longer preview images when doing PR reviews.

[bradleycamacho]

I review a few dozen PRs on our docs repo a week and not having preview access to webps is a massive speed bump when doing so. It would be very appreciated if we had full webp support!

[hwsoderlund]

I too would very much appreciate this. We are now starting to use webp more and more in our repo, and image previews are a must during reviews. As others have mentioned, it really slows down the review process.

[burningtnt]

It will be fantastic if WebP images could be viewed on web pages and in file preview. One of my projects are now working for transforming png files to webp files. The missing support for webp really slows down the development process.

[stamminator]

I use WebP in my automated screenshot workflow for transparency support and small file size. I was surprised to find GitHub doesn't support it. Without WebP support, I'll simply generate PNGs that are twice the size instead. I'm sure GitHub would rather host the smaller file, no?

[tats-u]

AVIF: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/138164

[tats-u]

This and AVIF are supported by all browsers. Why GitHub won't add support for them? What the hell prevents GitHub from doing it?

[HalanoSiblee]

almost 2025 And no webp support yet, do they even read these discussions ?

Why ?
Because it's smaller faster / modern & reliable

[skycommand]

I'm particularly interested in Lossless WebP support. Compared to PNG, they're faster to encode and smaller.