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Web Picture (.webp)

WebP is a new modern image format, developed by Google to be a successor to the common image formats widely being used on the web. It supports adjustable lossy compression, making it a good replacement for JPEG with a 25-35% smaller final image size with the same visual quality and compression levels. WebP also supports lossless compression and 8-bit alpha transparency channel which makes it a choice to use instead of PNG. About 25% smaller image size is expected for WebP lossless images compared to PNG.

Animated WebP has also some advantages over animated GIF. It supports 24-bit RGB color with an 8-bit alpha channel, compared to GIF's 8-bit color and 1-bit alpha. WebP supports both lossy and lossless compression and a single animation can have combined lossy and lossless frames. That makes animated WebP an excellent choice for animated images created from real-world videos. On the other hand, common web image formats like JPEG, PNG, and GIF are more compatible and well-supported by web browsers, compared to WebP. So, it's a good idea to use WebP with a fallback to common replacement formats for a safe compatibility result.

WEBP Specifications

Name Web Picture
File Extension(s) .webp
Category Raster Images
Use For Photographs, web graphics, icons, logos, flat images, screenshots, and drawings.
Developer Google
MIME Type(s) image/webp
License No license required; source code is openly available.
File Sample(s) N/A
Compression Lossless (Huffman, LZ77, or color cache codes) or lossy (VP8).
Max Dimensions 16,383×16,383 pixels
Color Modes
Mode Bits Description
YUV420 8 Lossy WebP stores the image in 8-bit Y'CbCr 4:2:0 format.
True color with alpha 8 Lossless WebP uses 8-bit ARGB color, with each component taking 8 bits for a total of 32 bits per pixel.
Animation Yes
Transparency Yes
Interlacing No
Metadata Yes
Layers No
Multipage Yes
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