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Images in WebP format on Wordpress How to do it?
Images are one of the main things that affect the performance of your website. The heavier the images you have on your site, the longer it will load.
The ideal is to use an image format that gives you good quality images and that in turn weigh as little as possible. There is a format to achieve this and that is WebP, a relatively new format that can help you reduce the weight of your images without affecting their quality.
Today, I am going to talk to you about what the WebP is and how you can convert a WordPress image to this format.
What are WebP images?
Developed by Google in 2010, WebP is an image format that encodes images in a way that, compared to JPG, GIF, or PNG, significantly reduces the size of image files.
A key component in any type of image compression is the quality of the result.
Whether using "lossy" compression (a less accurate representation of the data in the file, but smaller) or "lossless" compression (a very accurate representation, but larger), the result Final WebP images is a high-quality representation of the original.
You can convert almost any image file to the WebP format and get additional features like alpha channel transparency and animation capabilities. You'll see almost the same image quality as a JPEG or PNG, but with a file size between 20 and 40 percent smaller.
Today, many websites offer images in the WebP format. However, as an end user, you would not be able to recognize any difference in the file type. Google Chrome, for example, shows YouTube thumbnails on WebP. Also, if you scroll through Facebook on an Android device, all those images are also in WebP format.
Why is the WebP important on your website
As we have mentioned, images play an important role in the performance of your website. The size of your files affects their speed, and in turn UX. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you are choosing the best image file formats.
WebP is a raster image format created specifically for online images. In short, it is important to know it because it allows you to display high-quality images using smaller file sizes than could be achieved with other formats.
Thanks to the predictive encoding method, WebP images can be encoded based on their pixel values. Essentially, it only includes what is necessary without distorting the appearance of the photo. As a result, the file sizes are small, but the image quality remains relatively high.
The ability to use more images without worrying about slow load times can help improve the overall look of your WordPress site. Having the freedom to use whatever size and quality images you want also gives you more flexibility in designing your site.
Do all browsers support WebP?
In order to view the images in WebP, you need a browser that supports them. Unfortunately, not all browsers are capable of showing you these types of images. However, most will do so natively.
Both Firefox and Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Opera, Edge, Brave, etc.) natively support WebP in both desktop and mobile versions. Therefore, using any of them you will not have any problem.
However, the browser that has most resisted change is Safari, which is still in the implementation stage of this technology several years after its launch. However, progress is already being made, so Safari with WebP is a given.
How to convert your WordPress images to WebP?
Now that you know what the WebP format is and its importance, the next thing is to learn how to use them in your WordPress. In general, the process is quite simple, in fact, to achieve it, you will have two options. The first is the manual way, which is not complicated, but you will have to do it image by image.
On the other hand, you can use plugins that take care of doing this for you, some of them are free and others are paid. Usually, the free ones tend to limit you a bit unlike the paid ones. However, they are still a very good alternative.
Convert images to WebP manually
On the web, you will be able to find various image converters, many of them have the ability to convert images to WebP. Its operation is really simple, you just have to access the website and load the images you want to convert.
There are converters that will allow you to convert several images at the same time, this is a great advantage, since you will be able to save time. Once you have uploaded the images, you will have to wait for the conversion process to complete. Generally it will be a few seconds, but it will depend on the amount of images you have loaded.
Once you have the images, you just have to upload them to your WordPress to start using them.
Convert images to WebP with plugins
If you want to make your work easier and save much more time, you can use a plugin that takes care of the work. In the WordPress marketplace you can find several of them. These plugins are responsible for automatically converting the images you upload to WebP.
With them, you won't have to do anything, since the plugin will take care of everything. However, it is necessary that you check every so often, as they may fail and some images may remain unconverted.
There are plugins that are paid and others are free, you can make the choice depending on what you need and your budget.
