All about WEBP files

If you want to make your website faster and faster, or if you want to save bandwidth when uploading images, you can use WebP. The Google image standard is an alternative to jpg and png and has various advantages and uses standards such as RIFF as a basis.

What is WebP?

WebP works with 4: 2: 0 color subsampling. Images can be up to 16,383 pixels wide and high. The intra-frame coding of the video code VP8 serves as the basis. Parts of the code are based on the RIFF container format. WebP is a block-based transformation method that offers eight bit color depth and modern entropy coding – a binary coding that enables fast compression. Even with images that reach this maximum limit, the format enables a comparatively high image quality. Low-detail, uniform image parts are compressed particularly effectively.

WebP: history

WebP was introduced in 2010. Back then, Google was looking for a new video format that could convert data sparingly. The keyframe compression required for this was also available for images, which is why the search engine operator quickly transformed the format into an image format – WebP was born. WebP thus represents the "little brother" of webm. Both video and film standards are based in part on the VP8 video codec. WebP combines the advantages of well-known standards such as JPG and PNG. This means that WebM is able to reduce the size of complex images with almost no loss, while PNG can save the images to save space, but cannot reduce them.

WebP for Google Chrome

WebP has been used by Google for various applications since its inception. It is used in the Chrome Web Stone, in the mobile Google+ apps and in some other Google applications. WebP is still supported today by the Chrome browser in the desktop version and in the mobile version. Opera also uses the format. The competition from Microsoft, Apple and Mozilla use their own standards for image coding.

Compromise on image quality

The only disadvantage of WebP is that images on the hard drive cannot be opened easily. Well-known image processing programs such as Paint or GIMP only support the standard via extensions. Facebook tested the standard a few years ago and is still offering it today. WebP represents the optimal compromise between image quality and user friendliness. While complex images offer below-average image quality, smaller files do not differ qualitatively from JPG or PNG. The reason for this is also the different compression used by the three major image formats. Interested parties can find a comparison gallery on Google's developers page, which compares WebP and JPG images.

9.7/10(3 votes)

Convert, open and edit WEBP files

Details about WEBP files

Software for opening WEBP files
Software for editing WEBP files
MIME-type for WEBP

All converters from or to WEBP

No Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *