How can I get iTunes to accept webp again?

Question

How can I get iTunes to accept webp again?

Up until maybe a week ago, I was able to drag images from the web directly into the Song Info window for the Artwork. It still works with JPG but no longer works with webp. Even if I drag from the web to my Desktop and then drag to iTunes, I just get the 🚫 symbol. Convert the same image to JPG and it works fine, but that's a pain.

Googling this problem it tells me that Apple doesn't support webp ... but it did! It always worked, for years. Now, suddenly, I can't drop a webp in iTunes.

What happened? Is there a fix?

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Aug 10, 2025 12:59 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

277,937 points

Aug 23, 2025 4:01 AM in response to OriginalSaladGoat

This documentation is rather old now, but Apple haven't published anything newer. It shows that iTunes for Windows supports three image formats for artwork; jpeg, png, and bmp. I've no reason to suspect that they would have added support for a format designed primarily for online use. iTunes still supports iPod classic, for example, and there is no way that is getting a firmware update to support a new artwork format.

tt2

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

277,937 points

Aug 22, 2025 1:16 PM in response to OriginalSaladGoat

I think Google is correct. Perhaps your browser was being super helpful in the past and automatically transcoding on the fly, and now no longer does so?

tt2

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Answer 3

Aug 23, 2025 12:21 AM in response to turingtest2

Anything is possible, but if I were to drag the webp image from browser to Desktop, it would deposit as a webp, so wasn't converting it in that transaction, so not sure why it would convert it before dropping on iTunes.

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