If you've downloaded an image from the web recently, you may have noticed it was saved as a .webp file instead of the familiar .jpg or .png. That's because WebP is rapidly becoming the default image format for the modern internet — and for very good reasons.
What Exactly Is WebP?
WebP is an image format developed by Google in 2010. It was designed specifically for the web, with one clear goal: deliver the same visual quality as JPEG and PNG at significantly smaller file sizes. WebP achieves this using advanced compression algorithms derived from the VP8 video codec.
Unlike JPEG, which only supports lossy compression, or PNG, which only supports lossless, WebP supports both modes. It also supports transparency (alpha channel) and basic animation — making it a single format that can replace JPEG, PNG, and GIF in most scenarios.
How Much Smaller Are WebP Files?
Google's studies show that WebP lossy images are 25–34% smaller than equivalent JPEG images at the same visual quality. WebP lossless images are about 26% smaller than PNGs. In practice:
- A 500KB JPEG photo becomes ~350KB in WebP
- A 200KB PNG icon becomes ~150KB in WebP
- An animated GIF at 2MB becomes ~400KB as an animated WebP
For a website with 20 images per page, switching to WebP can reduce total page weight by several megabytes — dramatically improving load times, especially on mobile.
Browser Support in 2026
WebP is now supported by every major browser with over 97% global coverage:
- ✅ Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave (since 2014+)
- ✅ Firefox (since version 65, 2019)
- ✅ Safari and iOS Safari (since version 14, 2020)
- ✅ Samsung Internet, UC Browser, and all Chromium-based browsers
When Should You Use WebP?
- Website images: Use WebP for all images — photos, banners, thumbnails, icons
- Social media: Most platforms accept WebP, though some re-encode to JPEG
- Email: Avoid WebP in emails — many clients don't render it properly
- Print: Don't use WebP for print. Use TIFF or high-quality JPEG instead
How to Convert Images to WebP
- Open the Convert Image tool
- Upload your JPG, PNG, or BMP images
- Select WebP as output format
- Adjust quality if needed (80% is a great default)
- Click Process — your WebP files download instantly
WebP vs AVIF
AVIF is an even newer format with slightly better compression, but encoding is much slower and browser support is lower (~90%). For now, WebP remains the best all-around choice for web images.