Before I start, I should probably explain what WebP is.
Well, WebP stands for Web Picture, an open-source graphic format developed by Google in 2010 to replace existing formats used on the web such as JPEG, GIF, and PNG.
WebP contains better and faster compression and storage algorithms, and files are 20-40% smaller in size compared to existing formats. It also opens faster on web pages. The format is also supported by all major browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari from 2020.
More technical details about the format can be found here An image format for the Web.
I decided to post this because I have started using the WebP format to prepare and upload my photos.
Namely, it's important for me that the files are smaller because I still have a VDSL connection to the internet and I'm limited to 4 Mb upload.
Well, users of the @ecency front-end regularly encounter this, as all graphic files uploaded for posts are automatically converted to WebP on the server and displayed in that format. (This is one of the reasons why the Ecency front end is very fast).
Here's an example from Photoshop.
My photo - saving as a JPEG, 1400 x 788 pixels, 80% quality or 20% compression, 789.5 kb file size.
Same photo - saving in WebP, 1400 x 788 pixels, quality 80% or 20% compression, file size 420.7 kb.
Now both photos, first in JPG format (789.5 kb). I uploaded it to the Peakd image server.
And a photo in WebP format (420.7 kb), which I uploaded to the Ecency image server, which already has built-in support for the WebP format, which means that it instantly converts all image files to WebP. This one didn't need to be converted. :)
Do you notice any difference in the quality of the photo? I don't.
But the fact is that the second one is much smaller in size and consequently faster to upload to the image server, which is important to me.
So, for me personally, the advantage of this format is that the files are smaller and faster to upload to the web. It has a few other good features:
- bandwidth savings
- web pages load faster
- it has lossy and lossless compression options when saving
- better SEO positioning because Google recommends the WebP format as part of "Google's Core Web Vitals recommendations"
- animations can be saved in WebP and are also 10-30% smaller files than gif animations and in full-color scale, not like gif animations which are limited to 256 colors. Unfortunately neither Ecency, Peakd nor Hive.Blog support this (yet), but hopefully they will soon.
Example animation:
HiveLoop.webp - size 1.37 Mb
HiveLoop.gif, size 23.75 Mb. ...ugh...
Which software to use for WebP on the desktop?
My Photoshop is a bit older (v.21), it doesn't have WebP support, but newer ones than v.23.0 do. But there is a free plug-in WebPShop that can open and save this format.
Not everyone uses Photoshop, of course, but for Windows, there is also a free Paint.net, which I use occasionally, which has WebP support already built in, and for Linux users, there's Gimp, with WebP support.
For Mac (version 10.5 and above) Pixillion Photo Converter
I believe that WebP is now supported by most of the newer image processing programs, if you are interested you can check out the others as there are quite a few.
Mobile support
We also have WebP software support for phones.
There are several file editing and conversion apps in the Google PlayStore, including Image Converter - PixConverter, WEBP Converter - Image to WEBP
For iPhone free Webp Converter
Online
But maybe the best place to start is with an online converter to try?
I started with EZGIF.com Animated WebP tools, where you have lots of conversion options, from graphics to video formats, and also some effects and other tools.
Well, that would be it.
If anyone else has any questions, I am happy to help as much as I can, because I am new to this too.
Thank you for your attention.
And here's something else
I post everything in the @ecency front-end.
So I invite you to support Ecency Development And Maintenance #4 Proposal because I would like to keep using it (and many others, too).
Thank you in advance.
NFT Showroom Gallery
3Speak Channel
Photo Manipulation
Beer Tasting
New Tunes
Foodies
