About WEBP Format

WEBP is a modern image format developed by Google that provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. Key advantages:

• Smaller files: WEBP images are typically 25-35% smaller than JPEGs at equivalent quality
• Transparency: Supports alpha transparency like PNG
• Animation: Can replace animated GIFs with better quality and smaller size
• Lossless compression: Option to preserve all image data without quality loss

Browser Support

WEBP is supported by all modern browsers:

• Chrome (since 2012)
• Firefox (since 2018)
• Edge (since 2018)
• Safari (since 2020)
• Opera (since 2013)

For older browsers, you should provide fallback images (JPEG/PNG).

When to Use WEBP

• Website images: For faster loading times
• Photographs: Better compression than JPEG
• Graphics with transparency: Better compression than PNG
• Animations: Better quality and compression than GIF

Best Practices

• Use quality setting between 70-85 for optimal balance
• Enable lossless mode for graphics that need pixel-perfect accuracy
• Preserve transparency for PNGs with alpha channels
• Combine with resizing for maximum optimization