WebP format

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For some time now, a new image web format for bitmap has been on the rise, which aims to be the successor to .jpg and .png, because reduce the weight of each image in a remarkable way with alpha channels, so speeding up loading times.

It’s name is WebP and has support in the main web browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Opera). However it hasn’t support in image edition tools, so we will need a plugin or other tool in order to convert and edit on this format.

Let’s learn a little more about this new format and its features.

In the image below you can compare the image quality and its weight in PNG and WebP format with and withou alpha channel.

WebP format – Features

The WebP compression algorithm was created by Google in 2010 and is based on VP8 video format encoding and RIFF as a container format. This file format is based on block prediction. Each block is predicted through the top three blocks and one block on the left.

Its developers says that it allows a reduction in image size of up to 34% compared to JPEG and PNG formats, while keep their quality. In addition, as mentioned above, this format supports alpha channels, respecting the transparency of the image.

The maximum resolution of an image in this format is 16383 x 16383.

How create and edit image in WebP format

There are many tools which allow us convert an image to WebP format. Developers of this new format offer us a tool available for all systems. You can download it in this link.

We have a problem when we need to edit an image in WebP format and programs as popular as Photoshop do not allow us to do so, for this situation we must use this plugin very easy to install.

It is a good time to apply this format on my website?

Currently this format is well supported by almost all web browsers, but if your project needs to run in older web browsers, such as the tedious Windows Internet Explorer, it would not be very advisable to use it.

There are many methods to find out if the browser where the web is displayed is compatible with the WebP format, among them is the use of the Javascript plugin Modernizr or the HTML tag that allows you to show alternative content with a priority order (In this website you can get more information and see how the tag works).

With this information I think there are enough reasons to start using this format instead of the popular .jpg and .png. Besides, being Google its creator, who knows if it will benefit the use of this format in search engine positioning, of course, if we follow its rules will add points.

If you want to know more about this image format you can visit its official site through this link.

Categoría/s: Design and development web