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WebP is indeed the best image format. If you want to find out why, you will have to read this article. Only then you will truly grasp its benefits. You have to appreciate Google for making one giant leap for mankind in creating the format, and improving the Internet, one small step at a time.
The guide hereby provided by us at HowToHosting.guide, is made with educational purposes and aimed at beginners. You will learn how useful the Best Image Format WebP actually is and all the reasons of why you would want to use it.
What is WebP and Why Is It Better?
WebP is a unique image file format that contains image data with either lossless or lossy compression. Google is the developer behind WebP, which is actually a derivative of the WebM video format.
The format allows minimizing image size of files up to one third smaller than JPEG or PNG images without losing its high-quality and resolution. Compression of WebP images is based on the prediction of pixels from their neighboring blocks. In that way the pixels can be used multiple times within a single file.
Today, people are looking for file formats such as WebP as it is much smaller in size than most popular formats making it highly beneficial. Google might add more features to the file format in the future, but that remains to be seen.
Utilizing the WebP format are developers and webmasters alike. They are able to make smaller images which are at the same time with better or sustained quality.
To summarize, WebP provides both lossy and lossless compression for pictures, depending on your specific needs. The main and most essential benefit of WebP is that using it betters loading and browsing speed.
How to Convert Your Images
You might wonder how to convert your images to the WebP format without making it much of a hassle and without changing most of your image uploading habits.
Wonder no more, as we at HowToHosting.guide are here to enlighten you and provide you with a few easy ways to convert images step by step.
Convert to WebP Online
A quick and easy way to convert your hobby pictures or business images to the WebP format is to use online converters and tools. They usually involve a drag and drop technique which makes them preferable.
One of the most popular such online converter is named CloudConvert. Such converters also have a few added features as selecting Width and Height, cropping or scaling the image, plus the option to remove all metadata that is contained within it.
Convert to WebP Offline
You can download the official precompiled cWebP conversion tool from Google which is fully compatible with Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. The tool converts from JPEG and PNG and is reversible to PNG as well.
The tool is pretty easy to download and install and we recommend using this official Google tool, especially when they are the creators of the WebP image format as we stated above in the article. Node Tools and Sketch are other tools that allow WebP conversion.
You should refrain from using forks of the tool by other developers, which are not working for Google, but that is completely your choice.
Where Can You Use WebP?
The ultimate question we are about to answer is where can you use the WebP image file format. The answer is simple – the Internet. Although, we can go more specific than that – use it on your website.
Why should you use the images on your website? It will load faster, use less space from the smaller size of the images and many browsers support it.
Here are the browsers that support the WebP file image format:
- Microsoft Edge
- Mozilla Firefox
- Google Chrome
- Safari (Partial on PC, Full on iOS)
- Opera, Opera Mobile and Opera Mini
- Android Browser and Chrome, Firefox, UC for Android
- Samsung Internet
- QQ Browser
- Baidu Browser
As you can see from the above list, the Web has widely accepted WebP and applications support the image format. Now it is up to you to start using it and improve on the Web space.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are so many benefits to using WebP and it will be a crime if you do not help improve the Internet by using it more often. There are easy and fast ways to convert images into the format, without losing their quality.
To top it all off, Google is yet to improve the format and add new and more beneficial features to it. They will not give up and certainly have the means to update it constantly. It is in the best interest of every Internet user to utilize the WebP format.
Read more articles about file formats if you want to educate yourself more:
Beginner’s Guide to Image File Types and Formats
How to Add Viewable, Downloadable PDF Files to Your Website
3 Tips to Optimize Your Images Without Losing Quality