While JPEG was the dominant standard for years, it’s now starting to be challenged by a newer file format called WebP.
It’s an open-source image format that allows pictures to be saved with smaller file sizes than JPEG. While maintaining good quality and support by major browsers and platforms (including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Android). Before we move on check out this tutorial for building an Image Converter from scratch.
This article compares JPEG and WebP to help you determine whether your site or application should be using the latter instead of the former.
Introduction
JPEG and PNG are two of the most popular image formats on the internet. However, they are not created equal. JPEG images are compressed, which means they take up less disk space.
This comes at a cost, however, as it can lead to lower-quality images with more compression artifacts. WebP images use lossless compression, so they take up just as much space as raw photos.
But because of this compression, WebP images also offer significantly better quality and smaller file size without any noticeable difference in quality.
What is WebP?
WebP is a modern image format that can provide better quality images at similar file sizes to JPEG. It also supports transparency, so you can create images with transparent backgrounds without an additional format.
WebP also provides lossless and lossy compression options, which produce smaller file sizes without compromising quality. Lastly, it’s compatible with both modern and legacy browsers.
JPEG is still commonly used, but more and more websites are using WebP because it offers better-quality images. If your website uses a lot of photos, you should strongly consider switching to WebP since it has greater support than ever before. Here’s a quick summary of what makes WebP better than JPEG.
WebP vs JPEG
JPEG files have been used for more than two decades as the primary file format for digital images, but in recent years, a new image format has emerged: WebP.
WebP was developed by Google to provide better compression of images without sacrificing quality, making it ideal for use on the web. The main difference between JPEG and WebP is that WebP files are 25% smaller in size than their JPEG counterparts.
This means you can load 25% more content with the same bandwidth and storage needs on your site. However, this also means that your images will take up less space on your device as well, which could be a deciding factor when choosing one format over another.
WebP in Web Development
WebP was developed by Google to address two major problems with image formats today. The first problem is that there are too many different file types, and they all have different usage restrictions.
Web developers end up having to use multiple formats on a page, which can take up more time and space than necessary. The second problem is that images can take a long time to load for users who don’t have high-speed internet connections.
WebP was created as an alternative that would be faster and smaller than other formats, without the same file type limitations, so it could be used on any website across browsers without any compatibility problems.
Future of WebP and other Image formats
Both WebP and JPEG have commonly used formats for images. They use different compression algorithms, which means that they have different strengths and weaknesses.
WebP is newer, so it’s not as widely used as JPEG but it could become the more popular format because of its smaller file size and better quality in some cases.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for an image that’s optimized for screen displays then WebP might not be a good choice because of its lossy compression algorithm; this results in lower quality when viewed at 100% zoom level.
Conclusion
In conclusion, WebP images are a great option for those who want to save space on their server or need to optimize their website.
The compression rate of WebP images is better than other image formats, and they are smaller in size because of it. With the use of WebP, users can expect to see faster loading times for websites and applications.
In addition, these images make it easier for most browsers to load these pages which will create a smoother viewing experience. Finally, with all these benefits that come with WebP images, they also have an open-source community backing them up as well.
