# How do I read .webp images with Julia?
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597
**Category:** General Usage
**Created:** [January 19, 2021, 10:15am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597 "2021-01-19T10:15:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@NiclasMattsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/NiclasMattsson)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2021, 10:15am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/1 "2021-01-19T10:15:54Z")
Title and demo says it all.
```julia
julia> using Images
julia> baseurl = "https://www.gstatic.com/webp/gallery3/2_webp_ll"
"https://www.gstatic.com/webp/gallery3/2_webp_ll"
julia> img = download(baseurl * ".png") |> load
395×386 Array{RGBA{N0f8},2} with eltype RGBA{N0f8}:
RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) … RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0)
RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0)
RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0)
[...]
julia> img = download(baseurl * ".webp") |> load
ERROR: FileIO.File{FileIO.DataFormat{:UNKNOWN}}("C:\\Users\\niclas\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\jl_A8C4.tmp") couldn't be recognized by FileIO.
[...]
```
EDIT: Well, maybe that didn’t quite say it all. I should also point out that the problem persists when I rename the extension from .tmp to .webp. I’m on Windows and have the latest versions of ImageMagick.jl and ImageIO.jl installed.
---
### Author:  [@NiclasMattsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/NiclasMattsson)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/2 "2021-01-19T15:20:53Z")
Update: I found a JLL package that wraps libwebp (i.e. Google’s WebP conversion routines). Pretty hard to find actually, there’s nothing WebP related in this forum and googling “julia webp” gave no helpful results. Hopefully this thread improves the googleability somewhat.
My solution is clunky but you can wrap it in a helper function to make it a bit nicer.
```julia
julia> using libwebp_jll
julia> function download_webp_to_image(url)
webp = download(url)
png = splitext(webp)[1] * ".png"
libwebp_jll.dwebp() do dwebp
run(`$dwebp $webp -o $png`)
end
img = load(png)
rm(webp)
rm(png)
return img
end
julia> download_webp_to_image(baseurl * ".webp")
395×386 Array{RGBA{N0f8},2} with eltype RGBA{N0f8}:
RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) … RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0)
RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0)
RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0) RGBA{N0f8}(0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0)
[...]
```
Any obvious way to make that more elegant?
---
### Author:  [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/3 "2021-01-19T16:29:44Z")
You can read them with GMT as along as GDAL has been build with the webp driver (which is the case on Windows)
```julia
using GMT
I = gmtread("https://www.gstatic.com/webp/gallery/4.sm.webp", img=true);
gmtread [NOTICE]: -> Download URL file: https://www.gstatic.com/webp/gallery/4.sm.webp
imshow(I, fmt=:png)
```
---
### Author:  [@Jordan\_Cluts](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Jordan_Cluts)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/4 "2021-01-19T16:45:58Z")
I don’t have any clue how to do it but it seems like adding this to FileIO.jl would be a good addition to make.
---
### Author:  [@NiclasMattsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/NiclasMattsson)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/5 "2021-01-19T17:09:32Z")
Yes, I plan on opening an issue in ImageMagick.jl. That’s where I think WebP support belongs. I just wanted to make sure I haven’t overlooked anything.
---
### Author:  [@magister-ludi](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/magister-ludi)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/6 "2021-01-20T12:35:52Z")
I suppose ImageMagick can load `.webp` (I haven’t tried it). If so, changes to `FileIO` are probably what need to happen. It would require an addition to the “registry” in `FileIO`, with the appropriate magic number that `.webp` uses. The file `registry.jl` in `FileIO` is quite readable, so it shouldn’t be too hard.
---
### Author:  [@NiclasMattsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/NiclasMattsson)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/7 "2021-01-20T12:58:24Z")
Thanks, but ImageMagick doesn’t seem to have WebP support preinstalled on my Windows system at least:
```julia
julia> ImageMagick.ImageMagick_jll.imagemagick_convert() do convert
run(`$convert -list format`)
end
Format Module Mode Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3FR DNG r-- Hasselblad CFV/H3D39II
3G2 MPEG r-- Media Container
3GP MPEG r-- Media Container
A* RAW rw+ Raw alpha samples
AAI* AAI rw+ AAI Dune image
AI PDF rw- Adobe Illustrator CS2
ART* ART rw- PFS: 1st Publisher Clip Art
ARW DNG r-- Sony Alpha Raw Image Format
AVI MPEG r-- Microsoft Audio/Visual Interleaved
AVS* AVS rw+ AVS X image
B* RAW rw+ Raw blue samples
BGR* BGR rw+ Raw blue, green, and red samples
BGRA* BGR rw+ Raw blue, green, red, and alpha samples
BGRO* BGR rw+ Raw blue, green, red, and opacity samples
BMP* BMP rw- Microsoft Windows bitmap image
BMP2* BMP rw- Microsoft Windows bitmap image (V2)
BMP3* BMP rw- Microsoft Windows bitmap image (V3)
BRF* BRAILLE -w- BRF ASCII Braille format
C* RAW rw+ Raw cyan samples
CAL* CALS rw- Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support Type 1
Specified in MIL-R-28002 and MIL-PRF-28002
CALS* CALS rw- Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support Type 1
Specified in MIL-R-28002 and MIL-PRF-28002
CANVAS* XC r-- Constant image uniform color
CAPTION* CAPTION r-- Caption
CIN* CIN rw- Cineon Image File
CIP* CIP -w- Cisco IP phone image format
CLIP* CLIP rw+ Image Clip Mask
CLIPBOARD* CLIPBOARD rw- The system clipboard
CMYK* CMYK rw+ Raw cyan, magenta, yellow, and black samples
CMYKA* CMYK rw+ Raw cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and alpha samples
CR2 DNG r-- Canon Digital Camera Raw Image Format
CRW DNG r-- Canon Digital Camera Raw Image Format
CUR* ICON rw- Microsoft icon
CUT* CUT r-- DR Halo
DATA* INLINE rw+ Base64-encoded inline images
DCM* DCM r-- Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine image
DICOM is used by the medical community for images like X-rays. The
specification, "Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
(DICOM)", is available at http://medical.nema.org/. In particular,
see part 5 which describes the image encoding (RLE, JPEG, JPEG-LS),
and supplement 61 which adds JPEG-2000 encoding.
DCR DNG r-- Kodak Digital Camera Raw Image File
DCX* PCX rw+ ZSoft IBM PC multi-page Paintbrush
DDS* DDS rw+ Microsoft DirectDraw Surface
DFONT* TTF --- Multi-face font package
DNG DNG r-- Digital Negative
DPX* DPX rw- SMPTE 268M-2003 (DPX 2.0)
Digital Moving Picture Exchange Bitmap, Version 2.0.
See SMPTE 268M-2003 specification at http://www.smtpe.org
DXT1* DDS rw+ Microsoft DirectDraw Surface
DXT5* DDS rw+ Microsoft DirectDraw Surface
EMF EMF r-- Windows Enhanced Meta File
EPDF PDF rw- Encapsulated Portable Document Format
EPI PS rw- Encapsulated PostScript Interchange format
EPS PS rw- Encapsulated PostScript
EPS2 PS2 -w- Level II Encapsulated PostScript
EPS3 PS3 -w+ Level III Encapsulated PostScript
EPSF PS rw- Encapsulated PostScript
EPSI PS rw- Encapsulated PostScript Interchange format
EPT EPT rw- Encapsulated PostScript with TIFF preview
EPT2 EPT rw- Encapsulated PostScript Level II with TIFF preview
EPT3 EPT rw+ Encapsulated PostScript Level III with TIFF preview
ERF DNG r-- Epson Raw Format
FAX* FAX rw+ Group 3 FAX
FAX machines use non-square pixels which are 1.5 times wider than
they are tall but computer displays use square pixels, therefore
FAX images may appear to be narrow unless they are explicitly
resized using a geometry of "150x100%".
FILE* URL r-- Uniform Resource Locator (file://)
FITS* FITS rw- Flexible Image Transport System
FRACTAL* PLASMA r-- Plasma fractal image
FTP* URL --- Uniform Resource Locator (ftp://)
FTS* FITS rw- Flexible Image Transport System
G* RAW rw+ Raw green samples
G3* FAX rw- Group 3 FAX
G4* FAX rw- Group 4 FAX
GIF* GIF rw+ CompuServe graphics interchange format
GIF87* GIF rw- CompuServe graphics interchange format (version 87a)
GRADIENT* GRADIENT r-- Gradual linear passing from one shade to another
GRAY* GRAY rw+ Raw gray samples
GRAYA* GRAY rw+ Raw gray and alpha samples
GROUP4* TIFF rw- Raw CCITT Group4
H* MAGICK -w- Image expressed as a 'C/C++' char array
HALD* HALD r-- Identity Hald color lookup table image
HDR* HDR rw+ Radiance RGBE image format
HISTOGRAM* HISTOGRAM -w- Histogram of the image
HRZ* HRZ rw- Slow Scan TeleVision
HTM* HTML -w- Hypertext Markup Language and a client-side image map
HTML* HTML -w- Hypertext Markup Language and a client-side image map
HTTP* URL --- Uniform Resource Locator (http://)
HTTPS* URL --- Uniform Resource Locator (https://)
ICB* TGA rw- Truevision Targa image
ICO* ICON rw+ Microsoft icon
ICON* ICON rw- Microsoft icon
IIQ DNG r-- Phase One Raw Image Format
INFO INFO -w+ The image format and characteristics
INLINE* INLINE rw+ Base64-encoded inline images
IPL* IPL rw+ IPL Image Sequence
ISOBRL* BRAILLE -w- ISO/TR 11548-1 format
ISOBRL6* BRAILLE -w- ISO/TR 11548-1 format 6dot
JNG* PNG rw- JPEG Network Graphics
See http://www.libpng.org/pub/mng/ for details about the JNG
format.
JNX* JNX r-- Garmin tile format
JPE* JPEG rw- Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format (libjpeg-turbo 2.0.1)
JPEG* JPEG rw- Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format (libjpeg-turbo 2.0.1)
JPG* JPEG rw- Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format (libjpeg-turbo 2.0.1)
JPS* JPEG rw- Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format (libjpeg-turbo 2.0.1)
JSON JSON -w+ The image format and characteristics
K* RAW rw+ Raw black samples
K25 DNG r-- Kodak Digital Camera Raw Image Format
KDC DNG r-- Kodak Digital Camera Raw Image Format
LABEL* LABEL r-- Image label
M* RAW rw+ Raw magenta samples
M2V MPEG rw+ MPEG Video Stream
M4V MPEG rw+ Raw MPEG-4 Video
MAC* MAC r-- MAC Paint
MAGICK* MAGICK rw- Predefined Magick Image (LOGO, ROSE, etc.); output same as 'H'
MAP* MAP rw- Colormap intensities and indices
MASK* MASK rw+ Image Clip Mask
MAT MAT rw+ MATLAB level 5 image format
MATTE* MATTE -w+ MATTE format
MEF DNG r-- Mamiya Raw Image File
MIFF* MIFF rw+ Magick Image File Format
MKV MPEG rw+ Multimedia Container
MNG* PNG rw+ Multiple-image Network Graphics (libpng 1.6.37)
See http://www.libpng.org/pub/mng/ for details about the MNG
format.
MONO* MONO rw- Raw bi-level bitmap
MOV MPEG rw+ MPEG Video Stream
MP4 MPEG rw+ MPEG-4 Video Stream
MPC* MPC rw+ Magick Persistent Cache image format
MPEG MPEG rw+ MPEG Video Stream
MPG MPEG rw+ MPEG Video Stream
MRW DNG r-- Sony (Minolta) Raw Image File
MSL* MSL --- Magick Scripting Language
MSVG SVG -w+ ImageMagick's own SVG internal renderer
MTV* MTV rw+ MTV Raytracing image format
MVG* MVG rw- Magick Vector Graphics
NEF DNG r-- Nikon Digital SLR Camera Raw Image File
NRW DNG r-- Nikon Digital SLR Camera Raw Image File
NULL* NULL rw- Constant image of uniform color
O* RAW rw+ Raw opacity samples
ORF DNG r-- Olympus Digital Camera Raw Image File
OTB* OTB rw- On-the-air bitmap
OTF* TTF --- Open Type font
PAL* UYVY rw- 16bit/pixel interleaved YUV
PALM* PALM rw+ Palm pixmap
PAM* PNM rw+ Common 2-dimensional bitmap format
PANGO* PANGO --- Pango Markup Language
PATTERN* PATTERN r-- Predefined pattern
PBM* PNM rw+ Portable bitmap format (black and white)
PCD* PCD rw- Photo CD
PCDS* PCD rw- Photo CD
PCL PCL rw+ Printer Control Language
PCT* PICT rw- Apple Macintosh QuickDraw/PICT
PCX* PCX rw- ZSoft IBM PC Paintbrush
PDB* PDB rw+ Palm Database ImageViewer Format
PDF PDF rw+ Portable Document Format
PDFA PDF rw+ Portable Document Archive Format
PEF DNG r-- Pentax Electronic File
PES* PES r-- Embrid Embroidery Format
PFA* TTF --- Postscript Type 1 font (ASCII)
PFB* TTF --- Postscript Type 1 font (binary)
PFM* PFM rw+ Portable float format
PGM* PNM rw+ Portable graymap format (gray scale)
PGX* PGX rw- JPEG 2000 uncompressed format
PICON* XPM rw- Personal Icon
PICT* PICT rw- Apple Macintosh QuickDraw/PICT
PIX* PIX r-- Alias/Wavefront RLE image format
PJPEG* JPEG rw- Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format (libjpeg-turbo 2.0.1)
PLASMA* PLASMA r-- Plasma fractal image
PNG* PNG rw- Portable Network Graphics (libpng 1.6.37)
See http://www.libpng.org/ for details about the PNG format.
PNG00* PNG rw- PNG inheriting bit-depth, color-type from original if possible
PNG24* PNG rw- opaque or binary transparent 24-bit RGB (zlib 1.2.11)
PNG32* PNG rw- opaque or transparent 32-bit RGBA
PNG48* PNG rw- opaque or binary transparent 48-bit RGB
PNG64* PNG rw- opaque or transparent 64-bit RGBA
PNG8* PNG rw- 8-bit indexed with optional binary transparency
PNM* PNM rw+ Portable anymap
PPM* PNM rw+ Portable pixmap format (color)
PS PS rw+ PostScript
PS2 PS2 -w+ Level II PostScript
PS3 PS3 -w+ Level III PostScript
PSB* PSD rw+ Adobe Large Document Format
PSD* PSD rw+ Adobe Photoshop bitmap
PTIF* TIFF rw+ Pyramid encoded TIFF
PWP* PWP r-- Seattle Film Works
R* RAW rw+ Raw red samples
RADIAL-GRADIENT* GRADIENT r-- Gradual radial passing from one shade to another
RAF DNG r-- Fuji CCD-RAW Graphic File
RAS* SUN rw+ SUN Rasterfile
RAW DNG r-- Raw
RGB* RGB rw+ Raw red, green, and blue samples
RGBA* RGB rw+ Raw red, green, blue, and alpha samples
RGBO* RGB rw+ Raw red, green, blue, and opacity samples
RGF* RGF rw- LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Robot Graphic Format (black and white)
RLA* RLA r-- Alias/Wavefront image
RLE* RLE r-- Utah Run length encoded image
RMF DNG r-- Raw Media Format
RW2 DNG r-- Panasonic Lumix Raw Image
SCR* SCR r-- ZX-Spectrum SCREEN$
SCREENSHOT* SCREENSHO r-- Screen shot
SCT* SCT r-- Scitex HandShake
SFW* SFW r-- Seattle Film Works
SGI* SGI rw+ Irix RGB image
SHTML* HTML -w- Hypertext Markup Language and a client-side image map
SIX* SIXEL rw- DEC SIXEL Graphics Format
SIXEL* SIXEL rw- DEC SIXEL Graphics Format
SPARSE-COLOR* TXT -w+ Sparse Color
SR2 DNG r-- Sony Raw Format 2
SRF DNG r-- Sony Raw Format
STEGANO* STEGANO r-- Steganographic image
SUN* SUN rw+ SUN Rasterfile
SVG SVG -w+ Scalable Vector Graphics
SVGZ SVG -w+ Compressed Scalable Vector Graphics
TEXT* TXT rw+ Text
TGA* TGA rw- Truevision Targa image
THUMBNAIL* THUMBNAIL -w+ EXIF Profile Thumbnail
TIFF* TIFF rw+ Tagged Image File Format (LIBTIFF, Version 4.1.0)
TIFF64* TIFF rw- Tagged Image File Format (64-bit) (LIBTIFF, Version 4.1.0)
TILE* TILE r-- Tile image with a texture
TIM* TIM r-- PSX TIM
TTC* TTF --- TrueType font collection
TTF* TTF --- TrueType font
TXT* TXT rw+ Text
UBRL* BRAILLE -w- Unicode Text format
UBRL6* BRAILLE -w- Unicode Text format 6dot
UIL* UIL -w- X-Motif UIL table
UYVY* UYVY rw- 16bit/pixel interleaved YUV
VDA* TGA rw- Truevision Targa image
VICAR* VICAR rw- VICAR rasterfile format
VID* VID rw+ Visual Image Directory
VIFF* VIFF rw+ Khoros Visualization image
VIPS* VIPS rw+ VIPS image
VST* TGA rw- Truevision Targa image
WBMP* WBMP rw- Wireless Bitmap (level 0) image
WMF EMF r-- Windows Meta File
WMV MPEG rw+ Windows Media Video
WPG* WPG r-- Word Perfect Graphics
X3F DNG r-- Sigma Camera RAW Picture File
XBM* XBM rw- X Windows system bitmap (black and white)
XC* XC r-- Constant image uniform color
XCF* XCF r-- GIMP image
XPM* XPM rw- X Windows system pixmap (color)
XPS XPS r-- Microsoft XML Paper Specification
XV* VIFF rw+ Khoros Visualization image
Y* RAW rw+ Raw yellow samples
YCbCr* YCbCr rw+ Raw Y, Cb, and Cr samples
YCbCrA* YCbCr rw+ Raw Y, Cb, Cr, and alpha samples
YUV* YUV rw- CCIR 601 4:1:1 or 4:2:2
* native blob support
r read support
w write support
+ support for multiple images
```
---
### Author:  [@magister-ludi](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/magister-ludi)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/8 "2021-01-21T00:28:36Z")
Yes, you’re right, I get the same thing. The ImageMagick [documentation](https://imagemagick.org/script/formats.php) says that `WEBP` is available, in the current version (7.0.10), but `ImageMagick_jll` is using version 6.9.10.
I don’t know when ImageMagick introduced `WEBP`, perhaps after the version that is being used by Julia?
What I wrote above about `FileIO` would still be the right thing to do, but that won’t help until the format becomes available in `ImageMagick_jll` and Julia’s `ImageMagick` (or somebody writes a Julia package to handle the format natively).
---
### Author:  [@NiclasMattsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/NiclasMattsson)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/9 "2021-01-21T14:21:10Z")
Issue opened: [https://github.com/JuliaIO/ImageMagick.jl/issues/192](https://github.com/JuliaIO/ImageMagick.jl/issues/192).
---
### Author:  [@stemann](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stemann)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-i-read-webp-images-with-julia/53597/10 "2024-04-10T18:25:45Z")
I have created a wrapper library around libwebp\_jll - it is very much a WIP, but both reading and writing should already be fully functional: [Basic decoding/encoding by stemann · Pull Request #3 · stemann/WebP.jl · GitHub](https://github.com/stemann/WebP.jl/pull/3)
Reading is tested/demoed in [WebP.jl/test/decoding\_tests.jl at feature/basic · stemann/WebP.jl · GitHub](https://github.com/stemann/WebP.jl/blob/feature/basic/test/decoding_tests.jl)