A smaller format for web photos

JPG has been the default photo format for over thirty years, but its compression is old. WebP uses newer techniques from video coding, such as block prediction and better entropy coding, to store the same picture in fewer bytes. For a website, that means faster loading pages and less bandwidth, especially on mobile connections.

Getting good results

Start with the default quality of 75 and look at the size reduction in the list. For portfolio images or product photos where detail matters, 80–85 is a safer choice. Lowering the quality below 60 tends to produce visible blurring in skies and skin tones.

Resizing often saves more than compression. A 12-megapixel phone photo is 4000 pixels wide, while most page layouts show images at 1200–2000 pixels. Set a maximum width and the photo is scaled down with a Lanczos filter before encoding, which can cut the file size by another 70% or more.

What is not carried over

The WebP contains only the image. EXIF metadata such as camera model, capture date and GPS location is dropped, which is usually what you want for images you publish. The photo is rotated according to its orientation tag first, so it still displays the right way up. Embedded color profiles are not copied either.

The conversion runs in your browser using a WebAssembly build of libwebp. No photo is uploaded.

Frequently asked questions

How much smaller is WebP than JPG?

Google's own comparisons found lossy WebP files about 25–34% smaller than JPGs of similar visual quality. Photos straight from a camera, saved at very high JPG quality, often shrink far more because they are also being compressed harder.

Do I lose quality converting JPG to WebP?

A little, as with any re-encoding of a lossy image. At quality 75–85 the difference is very hard to see at normal viewing size. Always keep your original JPGs as the master copies.

Are my photos rotated correctly?

Yes. The orientation stored in the JPG's EXIF data is applied before encoding, so portrait photos stay upright. The rest of the EXIF data, including GPS location, is not copied to the WebP.

Should I still keep JPGs for my website?

Every current browser displays WebP, so for most sites WebP alone is fine. If you need to support very old browsers, serve WebP with a JPG fallback using the HTML picture element.