WordPress has announced with its new update they are committed to improving lossless and lossy compression of all images on the Web that are hosted on a WordPress website – embracing the WebP image format.

This promise given by WordPress will come into full effect when WordPress version 5.8 is released in late July 2021, this is when the new WordPress software will fully support image formats.

It is to be noted that WebP images are typically 30% smaller than images using JPEGs or PNGs formats, ultimately this update to WebP images will speed up a WordPress website and save bandwidth usage.

WordPress supports WebP

WebP is currently supported by all the major Internet browsers, so the update is applicable right away on most sites. The Internet technology consists of VP8 or VP8L image data and a RIFF-based container.

Lossy WebP compression was first announced by Google as being open-licensed in 2010, Lossy WebP uses predictive coding to encode images.

Lossless WebP compression is configured by using image fragments that have already been seen to accurately reconstruct new pixels.

The image then needs to be saved in WebP format, the next step is to upload it to WordPress exactly the same as any other image format.

More information

For further information contact one of the Plosion Web Design, web design maintenance team.