But while Windows supports a native way to preview these files, that straightforward compatibility didn’t quite make the cut in macOS. Luckily, however, there’s a bit of a workaround to view the images in Quick Look on any Apple desktop or laptop.  For those unfamiliar, Quick Look (hitting the spacebar) is a way to preview files without actually opening them. You can access it in the file’s context menu, or by clicking a file – but not double clicking to open it – and pressing Command + Y.  The workaround involves installing a curl script, which isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Once installed, you too can preview WebP images in Quick Look using a simple plugin. 

  1. Type Terminal in Spotlight search bar.
  2. Double click the Terminal app to open it.
  3. In the Terminal window, copy-paste or type the following script: curl -L https://raw.github.com/emin/WebPQuickLook/master/install.sh | sh  
  4. Press Enter to run the script to install WebPQuickLook. 
  5. In the Finder, right-click on the webP image to see the menu.
  6. In the menu that opens, click Quick Look. Note: If you have HomeBrew installed as a way to manage your file installations, you can also use the following script: brew cask install WebPQuickLook.

title: “How To Preview Webp Files On Macos With Quick Look” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “Ruth Beal”

But while Windows supports a native way to preview these files, that straightforward compatibility didn’t quite make the cut in macOS. Luckily, however, there’s a bit of a workaround to view the images in Quick Look on any Apple desktop or laptop.  For those unfamiliar, Quick Look (hitting the spacebar) is a way to preview files without actually opening them. You can access it in the file’s context menu, or by clicking a file – but not double clicking to open it – and pressing Command + Y.  The workaround involves installing a curl script, which isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Once installed, you too can preview WebP images in Quick Look using a simple plugin. 

  1. Type Terminal in Spotlight search bar.
  2. Double click the Terminal app to open it.
  3. In the Terminal window, copy-paste or type the following script: curl -L https://raw.github.com/emin/WebPQuickLook/master/install.sh | sh  
  4. Press Enter to run the script to install WebPQuickLook. 
  5. In the Finder, right-click on the webP image to see the menu.
  6. In the menu that opens, click Quick Look. Note: If you have HomeBrew installed as a way to manage your file installations, you can also use the following script: brew cask install WebPQuickLook.