Modern FormatSince 2010

WebP

Web Picture Format

Extension
.webp
Developer
Google
Compression
Lossy
Year
2010

What is WebP?

WebP is a modern image format developed by Google that provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. WebP images are roughly 25-34% smaller than comparable JPEG images at equivalent visual quality, and support transparency (alpha channel) as well as animation. It is widely supported in all major browsers and is the recommended format for web images.

Key Features

Lossy Compression
Smaller files, some quality trade-off
Transparency
Supports alpha channel
Animation
Supports animated images

Common Use Cases

Website images and thumbnails
E-commerce product photos
Web application assets
Responsive web design images
Animated web content (replacing GIF)
Progressive web apps

Advantages

  • Excellent compression for both lossy and lossless modes
  • Supports transparency (alpha channel)
  • Supports animation
  • Widely supported in all modern browsers
  • Significantly smaller file sizes than JPEG and PNG
  • Free and open-source format

Limitations

  • Not universally supported in older software and browsers
  • Lossy compression can introduce artifacts at very low quality
  • Limited support in some native image viewers
  • Not ideal for print workflows

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