Google Image Format WebP

Carolina Usbeck - October 14, 2010

Google has created a new image format called WebP, which is more efficient than most image formats such as jpegs and can allow a website to load faster and even allow the use of more images.

Google has provided a conversion tool, to convert jpgs and other formats into WebP format. This conversion tool can be installed on linux computers and will soon be available for Windows. What makes this format so especial is the fact that it provides a better compression than the JPEG format does and maintains good quality of the image. This will improve the user experience of a site by allowing a faster page load as well as lower bandwidth use.

Even though this format is still in its beginning stage, it will soon have support for its format in Google Chrome. WebP can become a very important part of the future of web development since it will provide faster load time of websites, which can improve a website’s SEO standing, since it’s one of the elements being considered for page rankings in Google.