The WebP format is a modern file format that provides high-quality images while occupying less storage space compared to popular file types like JPEG and PNG
What is WebP
Supported by Google, WebP is an open-source image file format that is increasingly becoming a popular standard for images on the web.
This format offers improved image compression, allowing you to reduce the file size of an image without compromising its quality. WebP supports both lossy and lossless compression methods.
Lossless compression allows you to reduce an image’s file size while preserving its original quality. In this case, no data is lost, and the image can be fully restored o its original quality and size.
Lossy compression results in even smaller file sizes. Lossy compression retains only the data necessary to display the image at the reduced size. In this case, it is not possible to preserve the original image quality.
Advantages of WebP
You can convert the existing PNG, GIF or JPEG images from your website to image files WebP. You will not sacrifice the quality, you will simply reduce the size of each image file.
If you convert a PNG or a JPEG image to WebP, its size will be 30 to 50% smaller than the original. Smaller image sizes help your pages load faster. Consequently, if you want a faster website, you need to use the WebP format for your images.
Faster image and page loading makes the User Experience better. You can also improve your search engine ranking by optimizing your website’s speed. Search engines place great importance on how quickly your website loads. Faster-loading websites tend to rank higher than slower ones.
Support for transparency and animated images
WebP format supports animated GIF and transparency.
Support and browsers
All modern wep browsers support the format WebP. It is natively supported by Google Chrome, by Safari, by Firefox, by Edge, by Opera, by Brave. Apple’s web browser Safari was the last to add support, starting with Safari version 14.
Limitations
The main limitation of WebP is ensuring compatibility with all the ways to intend to use an image. You may encounter issues if you use your website’s image assets for social media campaigns, email marketing, or mobile applications.
Make sure to test all the places where an image will appear to ensure that the WebP format will work propely. You might also consider offering two versions of an image. Use WebP where it is supported, and provide a fallback image in JPEG or PNG format for cases where WebP is not supported.
WebP and WordPress
WordPress began offering support for the WebP format in version 5.8. If your server also supports it, you will be able to upload and use these images just like any other supported image format.
Options for using WebP images in WordPress include:
- Manual image conversion. Use an online tool such as TinyIMG, BulkResize, and CloudConvert, to convert images to WebP. This is a time-consuming manual process, as you will need to upload the files to the converter and then upload the newly converted WebP files to the WordPress media library.
- Image optimization plugin. Many plugins such as Converter for Media, Imagify, and ShortPixel, already include options to convert and serve images as WebP files.
High-performance websites
If you adopt image optimization using WebP format on your website, you will notice that it starts to respond and load faster. Reducing image file sizes by almost half with this new compression is the first step to get started. The second step is to ensure your website runs on infrastructure with satisfactory response speed. A key factor in this is choosing the right hosting provider.
In summary, if you want to have a reputable website, one of the key aspects to pay attention to i the image format you choose to use.
