WHAT IS WEBP IMAGE FORMAT
Websites are quickly improving and getting filled with high-quality and bright content. But media files should not stop the website from working fast and correctly. People don’t want to wait long—if a page or some of its parts don’t show up right away, they leave the site. Slow loading hurts conversions and technical performance, so image optimization is very important for marketers, designers, and content managers.
What is it about?
- What Is WebP?
- Advantages and Disadvantages of the WebP Image Format
- How To Convert a WebP File to JPEG or PNG?
- Conclusions
What Is WebP?
The WebP image format was created by Google in 2010. The idea came from a company called On2 Technologies, which Google bought. This new file type became an alternative to PNG and JPG because it supports transparency and animation, and it can make image sizes smaller without losing quality. Lossy WebP images are about 30% smaller than JPG, and lossless WebP images are about 25% smaller than PNG. WebP lossy compression works well for popular animated images made from video files.
The main idea of WebP is that images are stored in a container format based on the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF). RIFF containers are very small—only 20 bytes—while still allowing the addition of more metadata. A RIFF container can support images with sides up to 16,383 pixels long.
WebP files can be recognized by the .webp extension. It is an open-source technology, which means anyone can make changes to it. Image size is reduced without losing quality by using predictive coding. The maximum image size in WebP format is 16,383 × 16,383 pixels.
In 2022, WebP had 97% of the market share among web browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Opera. WebP images are supported by many CMS platforms and most graphic editors.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of the WebP Image Format
Facebook, eBay, and other big companies use this image format to save bandwidth thanks to better compression. More and more CMSs and platforms now support WebP. It stands out because of several advantages.
- Transparency
Unlike JPG, WebP images support alpha transparency. PNG also supports this feature. Transparency is important in website design. It allows you to create uneven edges, show the background outside the shape, and add depth and contrast using different page elements. This helps with modern visual effects.
- Animation
Animated WebP files are smaller than GIF or APNG files. JPG does not support animation at all.
- Metadata
Metadata adds digital information to images, like time and location for camera photos. It’s also useful for SEO and improving page ranking—you can add title and description tags. WebP supports adding metadata using XMP and EXIF.
- Color Profile
With Adobe Photoshop or other editing tools, you can add an ICC color profile to a WebP file to control colors.
- Lossy and Lossless Compression
Lossy compression means some data is lost when the file is opened. Lossless compression keeps all or almost all data. Lossy compression makes files much smaller. This is a key advantage of WebP—smaller images help sites load faster.
Lossless compression uses a new algorithm created by Google engineer Jyrki Alakuijala. It includes classic methods like indexed colors, Huffman coding, and dictionary coding. It also uses advanced techniques, like special entropy codes for each color channel and caching of recent colors.
- Bandwidth Savings
WebP allows websites to offer rich media without lowering image quality. You don’t have to choose between image quality and fast loading.
- Better SEO
Google’s Core Web Vitals suggest using modern image formats like WebP.
- Better Website Performance
WebP images are smaller than JPEG and PNG. Pages with WebP images load faster, which is very important for users.
Using WebP images on a website improves the user experience, reduces the bounce rate, and increases conversion. Research shows that if loading time increases by 10 seconds, the bounce rate can go up by 123%. Conversion drops by 0.3% for every extra second of loading, which is very important for e-commerce.
Fast website loading also helps with search engine optimization (SEO). Since 2021, website speed has been one of the factors Google uses to rank web pages.
Large files take up a lot of server space. Using WebP helps fix this problem. PNG and JPG images take a lot of space on the website’s server, and depending on the hosting, storing this data can be expensive.
To analyze the factors affecting website speed, you can use the online tool PageSpeed Insights. The service identifies the correct image sizes, efficient encoding, and optimal formats.
Limitations of WebP Format
- Sometimes, compressing images with WebP can reduce image quality. This matters when working with high-resolution images that need to look very clear.
- WebP was mainly made for viewing images online. Many graphic editors do not support WebP, so it can be hard to work with these images offline.
- Also, not all website builders support the WebP format. But the most popular platforms, like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, allow WebP.
- WebP is not good for pixel graphics because compression can cause color loss. Also, lossy compression does not support the RGB model and uses YUV to code the image.
- With strong compression, object edges stay sharp, but textures may be lost.
According to Can I Use, 96.3% of browsers support WebP now. The exception is some older browsers like Internet Explorer 11 and KaiOS, which need special extensions to use this format.
If images are set up correctly on a website, they will open in any browser—either in WebP or in a fallback format like PNG or JPEG. There are solutions available to help with WebP integration.
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How to convert a WebP file to JPEG or PNG
To use a WebP image on your website, you need a CMS (Content Management System) that supports WebP. You can convert images either in the CMS or on your computer.
The simplest, but by no means the best way—open the image in a new tab and take a screenshot of it. However, since this will significantly reduce its quality, you should use a different method.
The built-in Windows editor can open WebP images and convert them to JPEG or PNG format.
- Open MS Paint, go to the “File” menu, and choose “Open”.
- Find the WebP file on your computer and click “Open”.
- Once the image loads, go to the “File” menu again and hover your mouse over “Save as”.
- In the side menu, choose “JPEG picture” or “PNG picture”. Name the file and save it.
If you use a Mac computer or MacBook and want to convert a WebP file, just download the image and open it in the built-in macOS viewer (Preview). In the top menu, select “File” and then “Export”. In the export window, choose the JPEG or PNG format, set the quality, choose where to save it, and name the file. Now the image is ready to use.
You can also open, create, or edit a WebP file with many graphic programs like Adobe Photoshop, Google Photos, Blender, and others. Adobe’s support site has a plugin for Photoshop called WebPShop that lets you work with WebP and use the preview feature.
You can also change the image format using online converters like Squoosh, Online-Convert.com, or TinyIMG.
With TinyIMG, it only takes a few seconds—just drag the image and click the download icon to get the new file on your device. These online tools and apps can also be used to create WebP images.
You can convert images to WebP using command line tools. JPEG, PNG, and TIFF formats are changed to WebP using the cwebp tool and decoded using the dwebp tool.
You can also add an extension to the updated version of the Chrome browser that converts images to JPG or PNG. It is called “Save image as Type”.
After you finish installing the extension, close and reopen Chrome. Then open the webpage that has the image you need, right-click the image, and choose “Save image as type” > “Save as X” (where X is JPG, PNG, or WebP).
You can open a WebP file in GIMP, a free graphics editor that is not as advanced as Photoshop but still useful. GIMP works on Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
Conclusions
WebP is a modern image format made by Google to help websites deliver media content without slowing down.
Using images in the efficient WebP format allows websites to upload many images that load quickly and use less hosting space. Fast loading of images and the website overall helps with almost all important website metrics:
- Better search engine rankings;
- More effective growth in organic traffic;
- Lower bounce rates;
- Higher conversion to leads or actions;
- Lower mobile data usage for smartphone users;
- Greater visitor loyalty and trust in the brand.
By using graphic editors, online tools, or a CMS that supports this format, you can convert JPEG or PNG files into WebP and back. You can also convert images to WebP using CMS modules, which is convenient when adding content to your website.
Lossy and lossless compression, transparency, small-size animation, metadata support, and the ability to include an ICC profile for color management—these are the key advantages of a format that more and more marketers, web designers, and content managers prefer. Thanks to the features of WebP, there’s no need to sacrifice image quality or quantity—websites can be filled with content that looks great and attracts users.
