WebP Image Format is an image format developed by Google. It was created to replace the JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats. WebP Image Format supports both lossy and lossless compression. These files are identified by the filename extension .webp. This format was created to reduce the size of compressed images without sacrificing quality.
Features of WebP Images
The WebP image format can handle more features (such as transparency and animation) than other file formats while remaining smaller in size. Some features of this image format are mentioned below -
Lossy and lossless compression
WebP supports both lossy and lossless compression. When a file is decompressed, lossy compression loses data, whereas lossless compression loses very little to no data. The advantage of lossy compression is that it produces much smaller file sizes than lossless compression.
Transparency
WebP images support transparency, which is especially useful when designing websites. Other formats, such as PNG files, do as well, but JPG files do not. In addition, transparency adds less data than other formats.
Animation
WebP images, like the well-known GIF format, can be animated. This gives it an advantage over JPGs, which cannot be animated. WebP animated files are also smaller than GIF or APNG files in size.
Metadata
WebP allows you to add metadata to images using both XMP and EXIF. Metadata is useful for providing digital context to images. You can add tags and short descriptions to images with metadata, which helps search engines identify images and improves your SEO.
How to convert to WebP Images?
Freeimgtools is a free online tool for
converting JPG, PNG, and BMP images to WebP images. With the help of this tool, you can also convert WebP images to JPG, PNG, and BMP image formats.
Pros and Cons of using WebP images
Pros
High-quality files
WebP is excellent at compressing images while maintaining image quality. It significantly reduces file size without sacrificing quality.
WebP image files are smaller in size
WebP images are much smaller in size than PNG and JPEG images. According to Google's data, WebP lossy files are 25% to 34% smaller than JPEG files, and WebP lossless files are 26% smaller than PNGs.
Improves page speed
WebP images have a much smaller file size than other formats, which can significantly improve website speed. Because the files are smaller in size, the website loads faster. This will improve your website's user experience and increase the time visitors spend on your site.
Good for SEO
Using WebP images on your website will help it load faster. A website that loads quickly ranks higher in search engines. As a result, using WebP can help improve the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your website.
Transparency and animation
Another advantage of WebP images is that they can be animated and have transparency. For transparency and animation, your image is no longer limited to PNG and GIF formats. Furthermore, it has more advantages than PNG and GIF.
Cons
Not all browsers support it
One disadvantage of WebP is that it is not supported by all browsers. Despite the format's broad compatibility, some older browsers, such as Internet Explorer, may not be as effective in supporting WebP images.
Image Quality is reduced
At first glance,
converting an image to WebP format appears to cause little quality loss. However, a WebP file can lose its details and textures. This flaw is most likely more noticeable in images that are already extremely small in size. As a result, it is recommended that only very large files should be converted to WebP format, as the quality loss will be less noticeable.
Not useful if you use images offline
Because the WebP file format was created with the internet in mind, it may not be useful when using images offline.
