What are the Benefits of Using WebP Format for Website?

Even if you adjust the images to the exact specifications of your website and compress them, the image will still strain performance. Moreover, compressing will also compromise the resulting quality. Considering the importance of pictures on the website, this isn’t an element where we cannot cut corners when optimizing them.

In 2010, Google aimed to stop this problem by creating a next-gen image format called WebP. Since then, they have been upgrading and improving it. The format has become a hot topic recently due to its smaller size and high quality, offering great advantages in terms of web performance and bandwidth usage.

What is WebP Format?

WebP is an emerging format designed to be a better alternative to JPEG and PNG images. The format is designed for the web with the goal of reducing file sizes with minimal quality loss, ultimately improving website speed and consuming less bandwidth. The format keeps the visitors happy and makes Google happy, which eventually gives you an advantage over slower ones in the search ranking.

WebP can utilize both lossless and lossy compression methods. Lossless compression is like PNG. It preserves all the original information, making it a great option when maintaining every detail is important.

On the contrary, lossy compression is similar to JPEG. It involves sacrificing some non-essential information to achieve smaller file sizes. It may decrease the image quality but offers the advantage of significantly reducing the file size, which is beneficial for web performance and storage.

How Much Smaller is WebP Format?

According to Google’s own data, WebP lossless compression is 26% smaller than PNGs, and its lossy compression is 25%-34% smaller than JPEGs. It may not look much, but a site using a lot of images will experience a significant impact on loading time, especially on mobile versions.

The versatile format can also incorporate transparency and animations, which is a great plus. But before WebP, you have to use PNG for transparent background and GIF for animations. It does not support both at the same time.

9 Benefits of Using WebP Format for Website

The stellar performance and a vote of confidence from Google paved the way for WebP to become the new default file format. Here are the benefits of using WebP format for websites.

1. Faster Loading Speed

Due to the smaller file size, pages with WebP images load faster. It is a great engagement booster, making it a highly beneficial image format. Because a 1-second delay can decrease the visitor satisfaction rate by 16%, and one in four visitors will abandon the website if it’s not loaded in 4 seconds.

2. Less Media Storage

The enhanced WebP compression also means less storage space. It is highly beneficial for websites that host a large number of images. Less storage can even save you money on your web hosting fee.

3. Transparency and Animations

WebP is not a monotonous image format. It supports multiple image formats, including transparency and animations. It is the only format that supports the transparent backgrounds of PNG and the animation capabilities of GIF. Moreover, it also outplays the HPEG’s compression.

4. Improved Search Engine Optimization

Using the modern WebP format is recommended in Google’s web core vitals recommendations. Moreover, WebP also reduces the page size, enhancing the website speed and positively impacting the website’s overall SEO.

5. Compatibility

Compatibility was a big issue a few years back as it was only compatible with Google Chrome and Opera. But now, WebP is supported on all major modern browsers, including Safari (since version 14) and iOS Safari. The only major browser that doesn’t support WebP is Internet Explorer.

6. Saves on Bandwidth Cost

Bandwidth is the speed at which the server can transfer data to the end users within a certain amount of time. Reduced file size means less data is being transferred over the network, leading to lower bandwidth usage and, consequently, lower bandwidth cost.

7. Improved User Experience

WebP significantly enhances the user experience on your website. By reducing the waiting or page loading time makes your website load faster and allows access to the content quickly without any delays. Fast-loading WebP images can lower your bounce rate, ultimately leading to higher user satisfaction and better engagement. Moreover, lossless compression also ensures zero effect on video quality, which creates a positive first impression with the users.

8. Versatile Format

WebP is a versatile image format that can be used for a broad range of web content, including static images, animations, and interactive elements. The flexibility allows designers and developers to explore creative ideas without worrying about compatibility issues and image size.

9. Metadata

Metadata is the additional information about the camera settings, origin, location, copyright, color palette, and other details. It provides context or describes the content within the file. It helps search engines identify images and boost your SEO. WebP allows you to add metadata using XML or EXIF.

Cons of WebP Images

  • Not Suitable for Viewing: The image format is primarily designed for the Internet and is less helpful in viewing images offline.

  • Does not Support Older Browsers: Browsers like Edge 12-17 and Firefox 2-64 do not support WebP. Here is the complete compatibility list.

  • Degrades Quality: WebP compression can slightly degrade the image quality. It is important to consider when working with high-resolution images that must be posted in high fidelity.

Conclusion

Considering the massive effect on loading times, any website or social media can benefit from the WebP format. Also, you can use a WebP converter to change your JPEG, PNG, or GIF file into a modern, efficient format.

One big issue with WebP is it is not compatible with Safari version older than 14, which means the website will have to use JPEG or PNG to show media on iOS and Mac devices. So, always make sure you double-check the user analytics to see which browser your visitors prefer and whether switching to WebP will affect them. If you are struggling to improve the speed of your website, then WebP should be the best tool to turn to for help.