How to permanently allow opening .webp files in Photoshop on macOS Sequoia 15.4?

Same issue here, selecting command + i and always open with photoshop doesn't fix. You have to double click it to try to open it, click ‘done’ when that fails, which prompts the next thing to show up…. you separately then have settings > privacy open and click “open anyway” after the fail which then allows you to open that file... but you have to do that EVERY time for each one… it only fixes to the individual image and is a clunky multi click process.

As a graphic designer we often have to save product images from our websites to edit in photoshop and place in indesign - indesign will still place them, photoshop will not open without this issue. Only since Sequioa 15.4.

Please fix!!!

I'm having this problem with .wiki files (don't ask) trying to open in BBedit.

They're just text files, but Apple thinks they're malware and refuses to open them unless I jump through gatekeeper hoops *EVERY SINGLE TIME*.

This is intensely frustrating. I appreciate the feature might be necessary for some, but you have to have a way to turn it off for specific file types or specific apps. I would be doing this dozens of times a day, sometimes hundreds. I just can't.

This just happened to me today after upgrading to 15.4.

I have to clear each file with a webp extension individually. Also includes webp's I've had on the system for years with no issues. After clearing the file it can be reopened with no issues.

Sequoia 15.4.1 seems to be overprotective for even pure data files such as .xmp.

For example: Photos.app > select image(s) > File > Export > Export Unmodified Original > Export IPTC as XMP.

Then try to open the exported .xmp with TextEdit or BBEdit and you are greeted with this alert:

It does not help if you set BBEdit to open all .xmp by default:

You can open that .xmp file via Privacy & Security but that does not fix it for other .xmp files:

Photos.app inserts quarantine tag to the exported .xmp. My old .xmp files also have this tag but previous macOS versions have not refused to open them:

xattr image.xmp
com.apple.quarantine

You can remove that tag from a file or all files with:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine image.xmp

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine *.xmp

Then TextEdit and BBEdit can open them.

I guess the same applies also to downloaded .webp images?

Please Apple, fix this as this is a nightmare for people trying to earn a living...

I have this problem with plain text files on 15.4, with both TextEdit and BBEdit. Changing the extension and Open With have no effect. The same alert happens with a file created after updating to 15.4, and with a file created before updating. Clearly this is a new Apple security issue introduced in 15.4 affecting many types of "document" files, and the work-arounds I've seen so far are untenable.

Correction! While it seemed to be working yesterday for the .webp files, it is back to square one today and not working!!

My system is "fresh" after I reinstalled Sonoma then upgraded to Sequoia before re-installing all my applications, including Photoshop 2025.

I tried the "open all" in "get info", as I did yesterday, checked the settings in Bridge, but the .webpage files do not open.

What a nightmare!

Seriously Apple, get your act together. Why not give us a system that works for professionals and not a toy that looks like iOS ?

It's not working. I have the same problem on Sonoma since the latest update. Every time I try to open a .webp or .avif file (using Photoshop or Preview), I have this message saying mac prevented to oepn the file as it can not be verified, as if it was an app. I tried what you said a few times but to no effect. The only way to to allow in setting (after typing the password) for each individual file. It's total madness. How can Apple mess it up so bad ?

I have the same problem on Sonoma since the latest update (14.7.5). Every time I try to open a .webp or .avif file I have that message where Apple seem to consider an image file as an app. How can Apple mess it up so bad ? Since the latest updates or OS, they keep making users' lives so difficult.

I bought a new Mac Studio M2 not long ago and I have had more problems in a few weeks than I have had for years with my old trust trash can! To a point I wonder if I should go back to using my older computer or switching to Windows altogether...

Update: The plain text files in question were created by a sandboxed app. If I use File > Open… in an app that can read text files, no problem. If I try to open the same file via the Finder, Gatekeeper objects. I suspect an update to Gatekeeper rules, rather than to macOS 15.4 itself, has caused this change in behavior.

The interesting thing about this is that, while Gatekeeper prevents the files from being opened manually, the Image Processor script in Photoshop will open and resave WebP's in a new format wth no issues. Hopefully this will be resolved in the next update.