The Origin of WebP
WebP was first announced by Google in 2010, based on technology acquired from the VP8 video codec. The goal was simple: create a format that could do everything JPEG, PNG, and GIF could do, but with much better compression efficiency.
Over the last decade, WebP has evolved. It was designed to address the bloat of modern websites, where images often account for over 60% of total page weight. By reducing image sizes by 25% to 35% compared to JPEGs, WebP directly contributes to faster "Largest Contentful Paint" (LCP) scores, which is a critical metric for Google's Core Web Vitals.
🎯 Core Web Vitals Impact: Sites using WebP typically see 0.3-0.5 second improvements in LCP scores, which can dramatically improve both user experience and search rankings.
How WebP Compression Works
WebP's efficiency comes from a technique called predictive coding. Instead of just looking at the pixels in a block (like JPEG), WebP looks at the neighboring blocks of pixels to predict what the values in a specific block should be. It then only encodes the difference between the prediction and the actual image.
Lossy Compression in WebP
For photographs, WebP's lossy compression is much more refined than JPEG. It uses a sophisticated "deblocking" filter that smooths out the edges of blocks, preventing the grainy, pixelated look often seen in highly compressed JPEGs.
Lossless Compression in WebP
WebP lossless images are about 26% smaller in size compared to PNGs. It uses advanced transforms like "Spatial Transformation" and "Color Transformation" to reduce data redundancy without losing a single pixel of information.
Technical Advantage: WebP's predictive coding can analyze up to 4 neighboring blocks simultaneously, providing much better compression than JPEG's single-block approach.
Key Benefits: Transparency and Animation
One of the most powerful aspects of WebP is that it is a "universal" format. You no longer need to choose between the transparency of a PNG and the small size of a JPEG.
Transparency (Alpha Channel)
WebP supports transparency with a very low byte cost. You can have high-quality, transparent images that are significantly lighter than PNG-24 files.
Animation
Move over, GIF. WebP supports 24-bit color and transparency in animations, whereas GIF is limited to 256 colors. A WebP animation can be significantly smaller than an equivalent GIF, resulting in smoother loads for your UI elements.
Animation Benefits: WebP animated images are typically 64% smaller than GIF animations and support full color depth and transparency—features impossible with traditional GIFs.
WebP vs. The Competition (JPEG & PNG)
When you compare WebP to older formats, the data speaks for itself. On average:
- WebP Lossless is 26% smaller than PNG
- WebP Lossy is 25-34% smaller than JPEG at equivalent structural similarity (SSIM) quality
- WebP supports features that neither JPEG nor PNG support simultaneously, such as lossy compression with transparency
Real-World Example: A 1MB JPEG photo typically becomes 650-750KB as WebP with the same visual quality. That's 25-35% bandwidth savings on every image!
Browser Support and Compatibility
In 2026, WebP enjoys near-universal browser support:
- ✅ Chrome (since 2011)
- ✅ Firefox (since 2019)
- ✅ Edge (since 2018)
- ✅ Safari (since 2020)
- ✅ Opera (since 2011)
With over 97% of global users on browsers that support WebP, the compatibility concerns of earlier years are now obsolete. Modern CMS platforms like WordPress, Shopify, and Wix automatically generate and serve WebP versions of your images.
Comparison Table: WebP Performance
| Feature | JPEG | PNG | WebP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compression Type | Lossy | Lossless | Both |
| Transparency | No | Yes | Yes |
| Animation | No | No | Yes |
| Average Size | 100% (Baseline) | High | 65% - 75% of JPEG |
| Color Support | 8-bit | 8 or 16-bit | 8-bit |
| Browser Support | Universal | Universal | 97%+ (2026) |
Conclusion: Is it Time to Switch?
In 2026, the answer is a resounding yes. WebP is supported by almost all modern browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. If you are running a WordPress site, an e-commerce store, or a portfolio, switching to WebP is one of the easiest ways to improve your site speed and SEO.
By adopting WebP, you provide a better experience for mobile users on slow connections and reduce your server bandwidth costs. While you should still keep JPEGs as a "fallback" for extremely old legacy systems, WebP should be your primary serving format.
Implementation Tip: Most modern web servers and CDNs can automatically serve WebP to supporting browsers while falling back to JPEG/PNG for older browsers. This gives you the best of both worlds!
🚀 Convert to WebP Now
Transform your JPEGs and PNGs into high-performance WebP files for faster loading times and better SEO.
Convert to WebP →Frequently Asked Questions
Does WebP lose quality compared to JPEG?
At the same file size, WebP actually has higher quality than JPEG. If you compress a WebP to be much smaller than a JPEG, you may see some softness, but it avoids the "blocky" artifacts common in JPEGs.
Is WebP supported by Shopify and WordPress?
Yes, most major CMS platforms now support WebP natively. They often automatically convert your uploaded JPEGs and PNGs into WebP to ensure your site stays fast.
Can I open WebP files on my computer?
Modern versions of Windows (10/11) and macOS (Big Sur and later) can preview and open WebP files directly in their default photo viewers.
How do I convert my images to WebP?
There are many online converters, but developers can also use command-line tools like cwebp or Photoshop plugins to export images directly in the WebP format.
Does WebP support CMYK?
No, WebP is strictly an RGB (Red, Green, Blue) format designed for digital screens. If you are preparing files for professional printing, you should stick to TIFF or high-quality JPEG.