Maybe you have tried some tool like Google Light House, whose indicators have expressed the need for you to improve the loading times of your web page. The image optimizationplays an important role in this aspect.

Some formats can slow down the overall performance of a site due to their weight. Today there are alternatives that are more efficient and must be taken into account when developing or structuring a website.

These are known as Next Generation Formats, which include JPEG 2000, JPEG XR, and WebP. Below you will discover what it is and how to use WebP to improve the loading speed of your website.

What is WebP?

It is a format for images created by Google itself, which compresses images with 30% less than their weight in JPG, PNG and GIF. It is open source and was initially based on a video standard called VP8 that the company acquired in 2010.

This made it possible to compress lossy images. Later, he was in charge of working with several additional techniques that gave way to lossless understanding, metadata, use of transparency, color profiling and animations.

The maximum pixel size of a WebP image is 16383 x 16383.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the WebP Format

This format provides important advantages in its use, such as:

1.- Decrease in file size

The format offers a compression ratio close to 30%, so by considering transforming as many images as possible, you will increase the loading speed of the website, as well as the chances of having a better search engine ranking.

2.- Reduction of the need for storage

By reducing the volume of files, the website will require less storage space on your hosting, which can be used for data or any other resource.

3.- It is a very versatile format

WebP has been created by bringing together the qualities of PNG, JPG and GIF formats in one. Therefore, if you need to use transparencies, animations or compression, you can use it interchangeably.

However, the use of this format can also imply some disadvantages such as the following:

1.- Compatibility

Although there have been many advances, the format WebP is not supported by some browsers.However, the truth is that the most used ones like Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera offer support for all its benefits.

2.- The quality of the image

Although it is not so noticeable to the naked eye, on photography or graphic design sites you can see some differences.

How to Convert an Image to WebP?

To convert an image to WebP there are multiple options. Some of them are:

1.- Gimp

Gimp, the popular graphic design and image editing software, allows you to save an image in WebP format. To do this, you just need to open the image you want to transform with this software, and then export it to this format.

2.- Convertio.io

Convertio.io it is an online option that offers the possibility of free daily limited conversions.

3.- Ezgif.com

Ezgif.com is another free alternative with which you can convert your images to this fabulous format.

How to use WebP on your site?

Because there are still some incompatibilities with this format in browsers, it is recommended to use two alternatives for loading images. This is possible through the HTML Picture container.

In this way if the browser does not support the WebP format, then it will show the JPG alternative that is indicated in the IMG tag.

Also, you can use the JavaScript library Modernize. With it you will be able to detect browser compatibility through its Modernizr.webp , Modernizr.webp.lossless , Modernizr.webp.alpha and Modernizr.webp.animation properties.

Within Wordpress there are other alternatives that work efficiently to convert images to this format. It is the complement WebP Convert freeware that uses different methods to transform images.

Conclusion

To improve organic search engine rankings and the user experience in general, it is necessary to optimize the performance of the website. One of the most important factors to achieve this goal is to work with images.

The WebP format is an alternative created by Google that reduces the weight of images by 30% compared to traditional formats such as JPG, PNG and GIF.

It offers as an advantage:

1. Decrease in file size.
2. Reduction of the need for storage.
3. Versatility.
    

But, it has disadvantages:

1. Incompatibility with some browsers.
2. Image quality.

Some alternatives to transform your images to this format are through the free program gimp or through online services convertio.io and ezgif.com.

You can rely on the HTML Picture container to set up loading alternatives for browsers that don't support this format. Also, the Modernizr libraries, as well as the Wordpress WebP Express plugin.

Thanks for your time. ;-)