WebP to BMP Converter — Convert WebP to Bitmap Online
Got a WebP that some older program refuses to open? Drop it below and pick BMP as the output format for an uncompressed bitmap it can read. Free, private, and entirely in your browser with no upload required.
Drop images here or click to browse
Supports HEIC, WEBP, AVIF, BMP, TIFF, SVG, GIF, ICO, PDF, JPG, PNG
100% Private — Your files never leave your device
All conversion happens directly in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded to any server. Your images stay on your computer the entire time.
BMP File Size Warning
Read this before you convert a folder of photos. BMP stores every pixel uncompressed, so its size depends on the image's dimensions and nothing else — not the subject, not the detail, not the quality the WebP was saved at. The bitmaps this tool writes are 24-bit, which is three bytes per pixel plus a 54-byte header and a few bytes of row padding:
| Dimensions | Typical source | BMP size |
|---|---|---|
| 800 × 600 | Small web image | 1.4 MB |
| 1280 × 720 | 720p | 2.6 MB |
| 1920 × 1080 | 1080p | 5.9 MB |
| 2560 × 1440 | 1440p | 10.5 MB |
| 3840 × 2160 | 4K | 23.7 MB |
| 4032 × 3024 | 12 MP phone photo | 34.9 MB |
Those figures are the arithmetic, not an estimate — a 1080p bitmap is 5.9 MB even if the picture is a plain white rectangle. The WebP you started with was very likely a few hundred kilobytes, because keeping web images small is the entire reason the format exists. Growing by a factor of ten or more is therefore the expected outcome, and it is the price of an uncompressed format.
If it turns out you wanted a widely-supported format rather than specifically a bitmap, WebP to PNG is lossless like BMP but compressed, and WebP to JPG is smaller still. Both open in far more software than BMP does.
When to Use BMP Format
Legacy Windows applications
This is where BMP genuinely earns its place. The format is native to Windows, so decades of utilities, in-house line-of-business tools, scientific and medical instrument software, and machine vision systems accept it and only it. Anything that reads pixels through the old Win32 imaging calls, or that was compiled before WebP existed, will take a 24-bit BMP without complaint. Embedded systems and microcontrollers like it for the same reason: there is nothing to decompress, so the file can be streamed straight to a display.
Uncompressed editing
The second real use is a working copy you intend to edit in rounds. A lossy WebP re-encodes — and degrades a little — every time you save it, so a file opened, tweaked, and saved a dozen times ends up visibly worse than where it started. A BMP has no compression to redo, so each save writes back exactly the pixels in memory and the tenth save is identical to the first. Convert once to BMP, do the work, then export to whatever the final destination needs.
PNG gets you the same guarantee at a fraction of the size, so prefer it unless your editor specifically wants a bitmap. Uncompressed also means predictable: BMP is useful when a workflow needs direct, byte-addressable access to every pixel without a decoding step in the way.
Where BMP is the wrong answer
- Anything on the web. Browsers will render a BMP, but you would be shipping megabytes where kilobytes would do — which is exactly what your WebP was already solving.
- Images with transparency. 24-bit BMP has no alpha channel; use WebP to PNG instead.
- Animated WebP. A bitmap holds one frame; WebP to GIF keeps the motion.
- Email attachments. Bitmaps blow past size limits immediately.
- Long-term archives. Lossless WebP or TIFF store the same pixels in a fraction of the space.
If nothing above applies to you, BMP is probably the wrong destination. Our image format by use case guide walks through web, print, email, and archive and names a better target for each.
Transparency and Animation
Two things WebP can do that BMP cannot, both worth knowing before you convert. WebP carries an alpha channel in both its lossy and lossless modes, and the bitmap written here is 24-bit — three channels, no alpha. Transparent areas are composited onto white: a half-transparent pixel is blended with white, and a fully transparent one becomes solid white. There is no way around it in a 24-bit BMP, so if the transparency matters, convert to PNG instead.
WebP can also hold an animation, a whole sequence of frames with their own delays. BMP stores exactly one still image, so converting an animated WebP hands you its first frame and discards the rest. That is the target format's limitation, not the converter's — to keep the motion, use WebP to GIF.
How to Convert WebP to BMP on Windows/Mac
The converter above works the same on every operating system — no software to install. To use it:
- Drag your WebP file into the drop zone, or click to browse and select it.
- Choose BMP from the Output Format menu.
- Download the converted bitmap — it's saved straight to your device.
There is no quality slider for BMP, because there is no compression to tune. You can drop several WebP files at once and take them away together as a ZIP, though bear in mind what the table above implies for a batch: ten 12-megapixel photos come to roughly 350 MB as bitmaps.
If you would rather not use a browser tool: on Windows, open the WebP in Paint and use File → Save as → BMP picture. On Mac, open it in Preview, choose File → Export, and hold the Option key while opening the Format menu to reveal BMP. Both work for a single file, but the tool above handles several at once and never uploads your images.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I convert WebP to BMP for free?
Yes. This converter is completely free with no sign-up, watermarks, or file limits. Conversion runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript, so your images are never uploaded to a server and there are no usage caps.
Why convert WebP to BMP?
Almost always for compatibility, occasionally for editing. WebP arrived in 2010 and plenty of software never learned to read it — legacy Windows utilities, industrial and scientific instrument software, embedded firmware. BMP is the opposite: a header followed by raw pixels, which almost anything can parse without a decoder or a library. The second reason is that BMP holds uncompressed pixels, so an editor can open, change, and re-save it repeatedly with no generation loss.
Will the BMP file be larger than the WebP?
Almost always, and often by a factor of ten or more. WebP compresses; BMP writes every pixel out at three bytes each plus a 54-byte header. That makes the bitmap's size a function of the image's dimensions alone — a 1920×1080 image is 5.9 MB whether it is a photograph or a solid white rectangle. The increase is expected and is not a sign that anything went wrong.
Does WebP to BMP conversion lose quality?
The conversion adds no new loss. BMP is lossless, so it stores exactly the pixels your browser decoded from the WebP. What it cannot do is undo compression that already happened: if the WebP was saved lossily, those artifacts are baked into the pixels and they carry across into the BMP. The bitmap is a faithful, very large copy of a lossy image — bigger, not better.
What happens to transparency?
It is flattened onto a white background. The BMP written here is 24-bit, which has three channels and no alpha channel at all, so a semi-transparent pixel is composited against white and a fully transparent one becomes solid white. WebP carries alpha in both its lossy and lossless modes, so this catches people out. If your WebP has transparency you need to keep, convert it to PNG instead — PNG is lossless too, and it carries a full alpha channel.
Will an animated WebP stay animated?
No, and no bitmap format could manage it. A WebP file can hold a whole sequence of frames, but BMP stores exactly one still image. Converting an animated WebP gives you its first frame. That is a limitation of the target format rather than of this converter — if you need the animation, convert to GIF instead.
Is BMP the right format for print?
Only when a specific tool insists on it. BMP is 8-bit RGB with no CMYK, no 16-bit channels, and no embedded colour profile, and the files written here record 72 DPI in their header — so a print shop's software will need to be told the real output resolution. TIFF is the professional standard for print because it handles all three of those things. Reach for BMP when an older RIP or layout program refuses TIFF, not as a first choice.
Do I need a browser that supports WebP?
You almost certainly have one. Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera have supported WebP for years, and Safari added it in version 14 (2020). Your browser's own decoder reads the file, and everything after that — including writing the bitmap byte by byte — happens in JavaScript on your machine. Nothing is uploaded.