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WebP Image Format Support

LaunchBox for Windows

šŸ“‹ Summary

Add support in LaunchBox and Big Box for the WebP image format so users can store and display artwork using the .webp extension.

ā— Problem

Large collections can require a huge amount of storage for images:

  • PNG and high quality JPG libraries take up significant disk space

  • Many users manage thousands of images, making media folders difficult to store and back up

  • WebP has been widely supported by modern operating systems and browsers for years, but LaunchBox media workflows are still largely focused on older formats

šŸ’” Proposal

Introduce .webp support across LaunchBox and Big Box:

  • Allow WebP images to be imported, displayed, and used anywhere images are supported

  • Treat WebP like existing formats in:

    • Image selection and download

    • Theme and media loading

    • Image caching and optimization workflows

šŸ“¦ Benefits

  • Reduces storage footprint for large artwork libraries

  • Allows higher quality images at smaller file sizes

  • Makes LaunchBox media management more modern and flexible

šŸ’” Notes

  • Should support both lossy and lossless WebP

  • Existing PNG and JPG workflows should remain unchanged

Posted by Pinky! Ā·
Status: Open To Community2 comments

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Comments2

  • AstroBob changed status to Open To Community
    Teamā€¢

    Jan 30

    Pinned

    Hi there!

    Thanks so much for submitting this request and for taking the time to explain your use case ā€” that context is always super helpful.

    Iā€™ve gone ahead and fleshed out the main idea using the info you provided, and Iā€™m opening it up to the community for further discussion and feedback. Please let me know if this fleshed-out version doesnā€™t match your original intended request.

    Feel free to let me know if you have any extra thoughts, examples, or edge cases you think might be relevant!

    Cheers,
    The LaunchBox team

  • Brian Faeran

    ā€¢

    Feb 11

    Something to keep in mind:

    WebP is not natively supported in WPF (what LaunchBox is built on).

    Therefore, what would happen if implemented: Some kind of process would be required to convert the image to something WPF does support (like PNG or JPG) before it could be rendered to view. Therefore, the WebP would more or less be delegated to the source file that LaunchBox needs to use in order to convert it into something LaunchBox can use.

    All of this would basically equal longer loading times for any WebP image, and a perceived drop in performance because of this, over natively supported image formats.

    So, is it possible? yes.

    Would users like the results? probably not.