Etsy converting our PNG files to WEBP changes the colors

[BettysBeautyInBeads]

I had my Etsy shop on the back burner while battling cancer and surgery. Now I'm back, and after re-editing my photos over and over, I just discovered that all of my .PNG images are being converted to .WEBP. I used PNGs for years, and while they look good on my end after editing in Photoshop, the colors change and they look off after uploading. It wasn't a problem before, and I don't know how to keep them looking right. I'm frustrated after spending so many hours on this. My version of Photoshop doesn't offer WEBP as an option, and I can't invest more in new software after thousands spent. What can I do to keep things looking good? If I can find a way to use WEBP on my end, can we upload images in WEBP format so that they aren't changed on Etsy's end? I don't want anyone else changing my images. Thank you in advance for your help!

Betty

[DesertChains]

Try uploading in jpg format, rgb colorspace.

[BettysBeautyInBeads]

I'll give JPGs a try. Etsy doesn't allow us to make and upload our own WEBP files when I attempted it. For some reason they want to do it for us.

[BettysBeautyInBeads]

Well, I have to say you are also correct. I went back and found that PNG files cannot be saved as sRGB in my version of Photoshop. It can be done with JPG files, though. So thank you!

[audreytherese]

While I can't help in how to make the images still look good, I can say I believe the main reason for this change is it's a lot harder for people to steal images when they are in this format. 

[CharmSplendor]

you can change any picture format in a second using paint.

[BettysBeautyInBeads]

I understand that's what they say. And I was a corporate web and graphic designer for many years. However, the way I found out about the image type was by stealing my own image, and it was pretty easy. Just a different method. To me it's not worth my jewelry and gemstone photos not looking as attractive, with color casts.

[BagmakerSupply]

WepB is just as easy to steal as any other image on the web - sites use it because WebP typically achieves an average of 30% more compression than JPEG and JPEG 2000, without loss of image quality meaning that the images download quicker and page load times are reduced. @BettysBeautyInBeads : There are several free applications that can work with WebP - if you are a PhotoShop user you may find GIMP useful and it is free.

[audreytherese]

Many people don't know how to steal these images though, so that alone makes it harder. People were used to right clicking and saving the file, now it saves a website file for them. 

[BettysBeautyInBeads]

Thank you, and I agree it's still just as easy to steal an image. It is probably as you say, better download times being the reasoning. But for those who say to create it in one program then just convert it in another--that is what causes the problem with color casting. It does change your image. It's best to save it in the correct type when you finish editing. I'll give GIMP a try for this. So, thanks!

[VintageRescueSquad]

Both ChainofBeauty and Audrey are right. I upload jpgs in RGB, which is for web viewing. And webp is to prevent stealing of images though it's still doable.

[BigXStudio]

Webp is actually not a file type, the files etsy serves up are jpegs. Webp is code that acts as a wrapper for an image making it not act as a normal jpeg when downloaded. For the most accurate color workflow, use sRGB color profile in photoshop when processing your etsy images and export as high quality jpegs in sRGB profile. 

[BettysBeautyInBeads]

As typical, I need to keep up  with the times at Etsy, as it's just the way of the technical world being on the bleeding edge (the reason I left years of working as a senior web/graphic designer). I have preferred PNG files as they resize beautifully on various devices. Folks copying or downloading my photos isn't a problem for me, as I don't have anything people are trying to copy, yet. So we are doing this for the masses, I do get it. My aging head is just frustrated. Thanks everyone!

[cuttingsNL]

I think webp is mostly to save on bytes (because the image is heavily compressed) and it is automatically done by Google for most images online.

Either way there's nothing ever safe online. Only when the webpage runs via a javascript and its content is stored in a remote location that can't be accessed via the "inspect" option on that webpage. 

[ArtDollsbyJD]

Webp is from Google.   It is not a supported type on Etsy or at least it is not in the list.

I can't think why Etsy would be changing since the type is not supported. 

Are you using Google?  Since it is a Google item they may default to webp.  It may also be something added to the new app item Explore by Etsy.

I don't know but there are converters available to change webp to jpeg or png.   

[BettysBeautyInBeads]

I actually avoid Google like the plague, I don't trust them. They have way too much data stored on everything everyone does on the web.
Etsy started doing the conversion once we upload our images to save on download time. Any extreme file compression changes the images. Something we have to live with.

[BagmakerSupply]

Many (if not most) image heavy websites have transitioned to using WebP as the images download faster (due to smaller size) making page loads quicker. What image formats are supported for upload has nothing to do with how Etsy then serves the images after they have converted them.

[OneMoreGlassOfWine]

I always go back into edit mode...double click an image from there....and save it is a download.    

[AmoreTreasure]

OMGosh thank you SO much!  This is WAY faster than saving as .webp and then having to pull up in photo editor and saving to convert as I have been doing.

[OneMoreGlassOfWine]

Yeah! Took me a hot minute to figure it out.  Lol

[MKTGraphics]

Webp is 8 bit RGB, Png can be up to 24bit. In photoshop go to image, mode, and select 8 bits. That should do it.

[MKTGraphics]

@BettysBeautyInBeads 

[FancyTogs · Accepted solution]

Webp is an internet image delivery format requested from the server by the latest browsers. It is a compression system to reduce image file sizes. The compression used can be lossless (preserving image quality), or lossy (reducing image quality). If you look at the Etsy page code the image urls on Etsy are still jpg. It is the browser that is converting the url calls to a request for the alternative webp format.

There are lots of different colourspaces using RGB colour encoding. The important thing is to use the correct RGB. The one required for Etsy and the internet (as it is the default for non-colour managed software), is sRGB, officially known as IEC 61966-2-1:1999.

"RGB" is a method of encoding a variety of colourspaces using values for Red, Green and Blue channels. There are many colourspaces using RGB. The colours represented by the RGB values differ between the various RGB colourspaces.

The main alternatives to RGB include CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) and HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value), but there are a few others too, such as Munsell and CIELAB.

The "colourspace" is the way the variety of colours (gamut) for a colourspace is represented by the numerical values encoding method. The numerical values in different RGB colourspaces represent different colours,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CIE1931xy_gamut_comparison.svg

sRGB is the common minimum standard colourspace, with a small gamut (range of colours). Other RGB colourspaces usually represent a bigger gamut. Most common display devices are not even able to display the full range of colours used in sRGB.

Problems arise by opening an image using a non-sRGB colourspace (such as AdobeRGB, or ProPhoto RGB) in software that disregards the colourspace info in the image file (embedded colour profile). The result is the colour values are incorrectly displayed, as they are interpreted as being the sRGB colourspace without converting into the sRGB colourspace.

Etsy ignores the embedded colour profile (colourspace) in an image when you upload the image. Etsy assumes that all images are sRGB, then compresses and resizes the images to jpgs, removing the original colourspace info and replacing with an sRGB marker, all without converting the colour values to sRGB. Hence Etsy will distort colours if a non-sRGB colourspace is used.

Lawrence (Clare's other half)

[BettysBeautyInBeads]

I appreciate the detailed info at the end. I worked with graphic design since the late 80's and then web design for over 20 years before I retired. As long as I can recall I've used sRGB. But I am using a CS5 version of Photoshop, so that may be an issue? I didn't know about the problems with Etsy when using the other RGB colorspaces. So thank you for the education!

Betty

[FancyTogs]

@BettysBeautyInBeads 

Check your CS5 settings for its working colour space, and for file saving.

Also check your camera save settings. If your camera saves to a non-sRGB colourspace that may be carried through into Photoshop and out again into your saved images.

Lawrence