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

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.

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

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!!!

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?

strayslacker wrote:

I don't want to convert the webp. I want to open it by double clicking it and having it open in the program of my choice like I've been doing for years.

For now the lossless workaround is to in Terminal remove the quarantine flag from all such .webp images in a folder with:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine *.webp

Also a GUI app xattred.app can do that but it can remove that tag only one image at a time, not as a batch:

https://eclecticlight.co/downloads/

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 ?

The only way possible now is to go in through terminal to disable, but only for images in the downloads folder. You can change the location. Yes, it's a big annoyance since webp is such a common image file, and we web people use and create these all the time. Not sure what Apple was thinking:

xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/*.webp

This is driving me bonkers. For everyone suggesting, I don't want to convert the webp. I want to open it by double clicking it and having it open in the program of my choice like I've been doing for years.

I have been struggling with the same issues since the latest update. I had Mac Sonoma. I finally upgraded to Sequoia, something I wanted to do for a while.

It hasn't been smooth sailing to be honest and I am still not sure of the point of all these new OS that bring nothing new per say except headaches at each iterations...

In terms of the problems with .webp and .asif files, I managed to partially solve the issue on my system (Mac Studio M2).

• For .webp files : right-click on a .webp file, select "Get Info", then under "Open With:", select "Adobe Photoshop 2025" and "Change All". It didn't work in Sonoma but it seems to work in Sequoia.

Double-check also that Adobe Bridge's preferences : in the file association tab, make sure the .webp files is associated with Photoshop.

Sadly, there is no such option for .avif files.

Photoshop can open them but through Camera Raw which is an integrated plugin so it can not be selected in "Get Info/Open With". If selecting Photoshop, we are back to square one, Apple Security prevents it to be opened and offers to cancel or move it to the bin unless you make an exception in apple security, which you have to do for each .avif file (...).

BUT, if you use Adobe Bridge, you can right click the .avif file and choose to open with Camera Raw. Then it works. Not as convenient if you want to open several images having different formats.

Another option, is to use an app to convert the .avif files to .jpg or .png. You can find free apps on the App Store such as "Avif Converter".

Quite annoying but until Photoshop integrates this format automatically as supported without going through Camera Raw, or Apple Security stops to wrongly consider each .avif files as apps, then we will have to go through these convoluted steps...

What is the point of having all those ads for Apple Intelligence if they can't even have a system that understand the difference between an .avif image file and an app.