WebP is a new modern image format, developed by Google to be a successor to the common image formats widely being used on the web. It supports adjustable lossy compression, making it a good replacement for JPEG with a 25-35% smaller final image size with the same visual quality and compression levels. WebP also supports lossless compression and 8-bit alpha transparency channel which makes it a choice to use instead of PNG. About 25% smaller image size is expected for WebP lossless images compared to PNG.
Animated WebP has also some advantages over animated GIF. It supports 24-bit RGB color with an 8-bit alpha channel, compared to GIF's 8-bit color and 1-bit alpha. WebP supports both lossy and lossless compression and a single animation can have combined lossy and lossless frames. That makes animated WebP an excellent choice for animated images created from real-world videos. On the other hand, common web image formats like JPEG, PNG, and GIF are more compatible and well-supported by web browsers, compared to WebP. So, it's a good idea to use WebP with a fallback to common replacement formats for a safe compatibility result.
Name | WebP | |||||||||
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File Extension(s) | .webp | |||||||||
Category | Raster Images | |||||||||
Use For | Photographs, web graphics, icons, logos, flat images, screenshots, and drawings. | |||||||||
Developer | ||||||||||
MIME Type(s) | image/webp | |||||||||
License | No license required; source code is openly available. | |||||||||
File Sample(s) | N/A | |||||||||
Compression | Lossless (Huffman, LZ77, or color cache codes) or lossy (VP8). | |||||||||
Max Dimensions | 16,383×16,383 pixels | |||||||||
Color Modes |
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Animation | Yes | |||||||||
Transparency | Yes | |||||||||
Interlacing | No | |||||||||
Metadata | Yes | |||||||||
Layers | No | |||||||||
Multipage | Yes |