How to convert DOCX to WebP using Python

Convert DOCX files to WebP images in Python using Nutrient’s DOCX to WebP API. The free plan includes 200 credits. Different operations consume different amounts of credits. Create a free account(opens in a new tab) to get your API key.

It’s now possible to view and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents directly in the browser, without any server-side processing required.

Why convert DOCX to WebP?

Converting DOCX files to WebP is essential for web optimization and modern image workflows. Common use cases include:

• Web performance — WebP provides superior compression, reducing file sizes by 25–35 percent compared to JPEG, while maintaining quality.
• Document previews — Generate lightweight preview images for document management systems and content platforms.
• Modern web standards — Support for WebP is now universal across modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge).
• Responsive images — Create optimized document thumbnails that load quickly on mobile and desktop.
• Bandwidth savings — Reduce storage costs and improve page load times with smaller image files.

The DOCX-to-WebP API automates this conversion in your workflow.

Nutrient DWS Processor API

Converting DOCX to WebP is one of 30+ operations available through our PDF API tools. The API specializes in document-to-image conversion with customizable settings:

• Convert various file formats to images (WebP, PNG, JPEG, TIFF)
• Customize output quality with DPI settings (72–500 DPI)
• Generate multipage outputs as separate images
• Combine with watermarking for branded document previews

Your account includes access to all PDF API tools.

Step 1 — Creating a free account on Nutrient

Go to our website(opens in a new tab), where you’ll see the page below, prompting you to create your free account.

Once you’ve created your account, you’ll be welcomed by a page showing an overview of your plan details.

You’ll start with 200 credits to process, and you’ll be able to access all our PDF API tools.

Step 2 — Obtaining the API key

After you’ve verified your email, you can get your API key from the dashboard. In the menu on the left, click API keys. You’ll see the following page, which is an overview of your keys.

Copy the Live API key, because you’ll need this for the DOCX-to-WebP conversion.

Step 3 — Setting up your files and folders

Now, create a folder called docx_to_webp and open it in a code editor. For this tutorial, you’ll use VS Code as your primary code editor. Next, create two folders inside docx_to_webp and name them input_documents and processed_documents.

Copy your DOCX file to the input_documents folder and rename it to document.docx. You can use our demo document as an example.

Then, in the root folder, docx_to_webp, create a file called processor.py. This is the file where you’ll keep your code.

Your folder structure will look like this:

docx_to_webp
├── input_documents
|    └── document.docx
├── processed_documents
└── processor.py

Step 4 — Installing dependencies

Install the required requests library:

pip install requests

Step 5 — Writing the code

Now, open the processor.py file and paste the code below into it:

import requests
import json

response = requests.request(
  'POST',
  'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
  headers = {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE'
  },
  files = {
    'document': open('input_documents/document.docx', 'rb')
  },
  data = {
    'instructions': json.dumps({
      'parts': [
        {
          'file': 'document'
        }
      ],
      'output': {
        'type': 'image',
        'format': 'webp',
        'dpi': 500
      }
    })
  },
  stream = True
)

if response.ok:
  with open('processed_documents/image.webp', 'wb') as fd:
    for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=8096):
      fd.write(chunk)
else:
  print(response.text)
  exit()

Code explanation

The code imports the requests library for HTTP operations and json for formatting instructions. It creates a POST request to the Nutrient API with several key components:

• headers — Authorization with your API key
• files — The input DOCX file as binary data
• data — JSON instructions with output configuration
  • type: 'image' — Specifies image output instead of PDF
  • format: 'webp' — Sets WebP as the image format
  • dpi: 500 — High-resolution output (adjustable: 72–500)

The response streams back as a WebP image file, which the script saves to the processed_documents folder.

Output

To execute the code, use the following command:

python3 processor.py

On the successful execution of the code, you’ll see a new processed file named image.webp in the processed_documents folder.

The folder structure will look like this:

docx_to_webp
├── input_documents
|    └── document.docx
├── processed_documents
|    └── image.webp
└── processor.py

Additional resources

Explore more ways to work with Nutrient API:

• Postman collection — Test API endpoints directly in Postman
• Zapier integration — Automate document workflows without code
• MCP Server — PDF automation for LLM applications
• Python examples — Official Python code examples and documentation

Conclusion

This tutorial covered converting DOCX files to WebP images in Python using the DOCX-to-WebP API.

You can integrate these functions into existing applications. The same API token enables other operations like merging documents, adding watermarks, and more. Sign up(opens in a new tab) for a free trial.

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