ThumbsPlus remains a powerful and efficient tool for managing traditional image archives. Its speed, database structure, and unmatched batch processing capabilities are still relevant for many workflows. However, the digital landscape has evolved. Google's WebP format is no longer an emerging technology; it is the present standard for efficient image delivery on the web.

This feature adds complete, native read/write support for the image format (including lossy, lossless, animated, and transparency) into ThumbsPlus. It enables users to browse, edit, convert, catalog, and export WebP images seamlessly, leveraging WebP’s superior compression for modern web workflows and efficient archiving.

ThumbsPlus relies on the Windows Imaging Component (WIC) or standard graphics libraries. If you install a WebP codec for Windows (e.g., from Google or the WebP Codec project), ThumbsPlus may be able to view thumbnails and basic metadata. However, full editing or batch conversion is often unstable or unavailable.

ThumbsPlus is a versatile image management application for Microsoft Windows. It scans selected directories or entire drives, ingests images and similar data, generates thumbnails, and stores this information in databases (Access, SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and more). Key features include:

As of 2025, there is no "perfect" native WebP workflow in ThumbsPlus. You are reliant on OS-level codecs.

WebP lossy images are library-proven to be 25% to 34% smaller than comparable JPEG files.

ThumbsPlus can utilize the operating system's native imaging codecs via the Windows Imaging Component (WIC) framework.

Fail to generate metadata rows, preventing you from applying keywords or sorting by image similarity.

: Deep support for image tagging, user-defined fields, and database integration. ThumbsPlus 6.0 - DPReview

: Smaller file sizes lead to faster loading times for web-based galleries.

One of the greatest strengths of ThumbsPlus is its automated batch processing engine. If you use ThumbsPlus to prepare images for developers or web platforms, you can set up automated pipelines. Converting From Legacy Formats To WebP