WebP

WebP is an image format developed by Google, designed so that files are noticeably smaller than classic JPEG and PNG at similar visual quality. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, as well as transparency and animation, so in many uses it replaces JPEG, PNG and GIF at once.

Why WebP speeds up pages

Images are usually the largest part of a page's weight, so their size directly affects loading time. Smaller WebP files shorten transfer and improve the LCP metric, one of the key parameters in Core Web Vitals. A faster page means a better user experience and, indirectly, a more favourable position in search results, since speed is one of the signals considered by SEO algorithms.

Implementation in practice

WebP is deployed by converting existing graphics and serving them with an appropriate fallback for older browsers — most often through the picture element, which delivers JPEG or PNG to clients that cannot display WebP. Many CMS platforms and plugins generate WebP variants automatically, and serving them through a CDN further shortens the time to reach the user. It is worth choosing the compression level sensibly: too aggressive and quality suffers, too conservative and the benefit disappears. A newer alternative is the AVIF format, which offers even better compression but can be slower to encode — in practice the two formats are often used side by side, depending on browser support.