If you work with images on the web, you have probably noticed a format called WebP showing up more and more. Developed by Google and released in 2010, WebP was designed to replace both JPEG and PNG with a single, more efficient format. Over a decade later, it has matured into a reliable choice that major websites and platforms use every day.

What Makes WebP Different?

WebP uses advanced compression algorithms based on the VP8 video codec. It supports both lossy and lossless compression in the same format, plus transparency (alpha channel) and even animation. In other words, it can do everything JPEG does, everything PNG does, and everything GIF does, all in one format.

Size Advantages

The headline feature of WebP is smaller file sizes. According to Google's own testing:

WebP lossy images are 25-34% smaller than JPEG at equivalent visual quality.
WebP lossless images are 26% smaller than PNG.
WebP lossy images with transparency are 3x smaller than PNG.

For a website serving thousands of images, these savings translate into faster load times, lower bandwidth costs, and better user experience, especially on mobile connections.

Browser Support

WebP is now supported by all major browsers:

Chrome (since 2014)
Firefox (since 2019)
Safari (since 2020, macOS Big Sur)
Edge (since it switched to Chromium)
Opera, Brave, and all Chromium-based browsers

As of 2025, WebP support covers over 97% of web users globally. The only holdout is Internet Explorer, which is no longer maintained by Microsoft.

When to Use WebP

Website images. WebP is the best choice for web images in 2025. Smaller files mean faster pages.
App assets. Mobile and desktop apps that display images benefit from reduced download sizes.
Social media. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram already convert uploads to WebP internally.

When Not to Use WebP

Print workflows. Print shops typically expect JPEG or TIFF. WebP is a web-first format.
Archival storage. For long-term archival, TIFF or PNG remain safer choices due to wider software support.
Email attachments. Some email clients may not render WebP images inline. JPEG is safer for email.