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"This file just won't show up" — Sunday at 9 PM, in front of a convenience store copier

FreeTool.jp

9 PM on a Sunday.

I intended to print the documents I needed for the next morning at a convenience store. I inserted my USB drive and selected "Print" on the screen. The list of files appeared.

—That one image was not in the list.

The PDF was there. The photo I had just saved was there too. But the one sheet I needed most was not there.

I reinserted the USB drive. I inserted it again. It still didn't show up.

It had been perfectly visible on my home computer. It opened when I double-clicked it, and I had even pasted it into my document. So, until the very end, I never thought this would be a problem.

At the very end of the file name, it said .webp.

There is no turning back when you go to print on the weekend

Weekend errands have a different quality than weekday ones.

There is no one to help you redo it.

On a weekday, you could reprint it on the office printer. You could ask a colleague to "print this for me." If it didn't work out, you could even do it the next morning.

But at a convenience store on a Sunday night, that isn't an option. All that is in front of you is a machine, and the machine won't tell you why. It just won't show that one file in the list.

School assignments for the kids. Neighborhood association circulars. Hobby projects. Documents to submit first thing in the morning. —Things you go to print on the weekend are usually things you "need by tomorrow morning."

It was perfectly visible on my computer

.webp (WebP) is an image format created by Google. Its feature is that it makes files smaller while looking the same, and even according to Google's own explanation, it can be about 30% smaller on average than JPEG.

Because it is a format for making websites faster, many websites now distribute images in this format.

And, when you select "Save image as" in your browser, it is saved in the exact format it was distributed in. In other words, if the site is distributing in WebP, what you get on your end is also .webp.

I didn't choose anything. I just pressed "Save image." People don't usually look at the end of a file name.

The troublesome part comes after that.

The feeling that "it worked up to this point" is the biggest lie of all

.webp files work fine halfway through.

  • If you drag them into a browser, they open and are visible

  • They can also be opened in Windows "Paint"

  • They can be pasted into desktop versions of Word or PowerPoint (Windows 10 1809 or later + newer versions of Office)

On the other hand, depending on the environment, you will stumble from the start. Opening them in Windows "Photos" may require additional extensions, and they may not be supported in the Web version of Office.

In other words, environments that can open them and those that cannot are patchily mixed.

This is the worst part; if you happen to be able to "open and paste" them on your own device, you won't even realize there is a problem.

And the failure always happens at the very end. When printing. When submitting. When uploading to a form. — In other words, only when there is no time left.

The convenience store compatibility list clearly states it

Convenience store printing has publicly available supported formats. When you read them, they are quite strict.

7-Eleven in-store multi-copy machine (when bringing in a USB memory stick, etc.):

  • Photo print … Exif JPEG, JPEG/JFIF, Adobe JPEG, Exif TIFF, TIFF, BMP

  • Plain paper print (image) … JPEG, TIFF (single page)

For plain paper image prints, it is only JPEG and TIFF. Forget webp, even PNG is not on the compatibility list.

If using the internet-based "netprint," it is slightly broader, with images being JPEG, PNG, and multi-page TIFF. However, photo paper prints are JPEG only.

The "Network Print" service for Lawson and FamilyMart supports JPG, PNG, and PDF.

.webp is nowhere to be found. It's not that it's unsupported; it's not even on the list to begin with. That is why the machine doesn't even say "unsupported," it just doesn't show it in the list.

Sunday night, fix it in 2 minutes

All you have to do is convert it.

1. Convert webp back to PNG
freetool.jp/image/webp-to-png Drag the file there and Download. Transparency (the parts where the background is removed) will also remain intact. If you are using Network Print or netprint, this will work.

2. If you're taking it to a store copier, convert it down to JPG
freetool.jp/image/png-to-jpg
As shown in the correspondence table above, JPEG is the safest bet for both plain paper and photo prints. If you're bringing it in on a USB drive, doing this beforehand will save you the trouble.

Both can be done entirely within your browser. There's no need to install apps or register for an account.You can even do it from your smartphone in a convenience store parking lot at 9 PM on a Sunday—that is pretty much the entire reason I'm introducing these two.

As a side note, there is also a way to stop it at the source. If you install a browser extension, you can choose JPG or PNG when you select "Save image as." If you're struggling with this every week, that method is faster.

I've seen the same situation from the HR side

I worked in HR at my previous job.

HR work involves more "printing and distributing" than you might think. Briefing materials, evaluation sheets for interviewers, training manuals.

And this happened a few times.

Materials prepared the day before would come out on the morning of the event with one page showing a blank image. Or the print job wouldn't go through at all. When tracing the cause, it was usually because an image picked up from the internet was pasted as-is.

On the screen of the person who made it, it looks perfectly fine. That's why you don't notice it even during a last-minute check. You only notice it when you pick up the printed paper.

So, at some point, I started checking one thing before handing materials to anyone.

"Does this contain any images that I didn't create myself?"

If it does, I check the format. Just doing that eliminated almost all of those morning-of accidents.

I want these people to use it

  • People planning to print at a convenience store over the weekend

  • People who create documents for their child's school, daycare, PTA, or neighborhood association on their home computer

  • People who sometimes paste images found online into documents or flyers

  • People who order photo prints or New Year's cards online

  • People who have encountered a "cannot upload" error even once on a submission form

Two minutes on a Sunday night. That will eliminate the "it didn't print" problem first thing Monday morning.

→ Convert webp back to PNG: freetool.jp/image/webp-to-png

In conclusion

.webp is not a bad format. In fact, it is a well-designed format for making the web faster.

However, because it is a format created for the convenience of the web, it can sometimes have nowhere to go the moment it leaves the web. Convenience store copiers, print shops, and submission forms are all outside the web.

"Being able to save" and "being able to use" were two different things.

— I learned that in front of a copier at 9 PM on a Sunday.

→ Try using FreeTool: https://freetool.jp/

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References:

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#webp #ConvenienceStorePrint #Printing #DocumentCreation #PTA #ImageConversion #PC #HR #FreeTools #PauseAndThink #FreeTool

FreeTool
A collection of free tools to safely process PDFs, images, and text entirely within your browser. Since files are not sent to a server, you can use it with confidence even for work documents. No registration required, completely free. ▶ freetool.jp

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