Quick answer
WebP is 25-35% smaller than JPG for the same quality, improving page load speed and SEO ranking. Google developed it specifically for faster websites.
If you have noticed every website seems to serve WebP now, there is a reason: speed and cost.
Google developed WebP for a reason
Google (which owns Chrome) created WebP to solve a problem: images were taking too long to load. Studies showed that every extra 100ms of page delay costs e-commerce sites 1% of sales.
WebP compression is 25-35% better than JPG, meaning:
- Websites load 20-30% faster when using WebP.
- Users see pages instantly on slow connections.
- Google Search ranks faster-loading pages higher (page speed is a ranking factor).
- Server bandwidth costs drop for sites with millions of images.
The business case for WebP
For a large website with 10,000 product images:
- Storing JPG: total size 2 GB.
- Storing WebP (same quality): total size 1.3 GB.
- Bandwidth saving per month: if serving 1 million image views per month, saving 700 MB of bandwidth monthly. At $0.01-0.10 per GB, that is $7-70/month saved.
For millions of monthly visitors, WebP savings pay for engineering time.
WebP adoption timeline
- 2010: Google releases WebP.
- 2018-2019: Firefox and Edge add support.
- 2021: 90%+ of users have WebP-capable browsers.
- 2022: Safari adds support (Safari 16), major adoption inflection point.
- 2023-2026: e-commerce, SaaS, news sites largely switch to WebP with JPG fallback.
Why you might want JPG instead
Despite the benefits, JPG survives because:
- Compatibility: JPG works everywhere (email, Outlook, printing, old software).
- Tool support: every design tool, browser, and OS recognizes JPG.
- Inertia: most creators and systems still default to JPG.
- Trust: JPG is 30 years old and stable; WebP is newer and changing.
The future: AVIF and next-generation formats
WebP will likely be replaced by even better formats like AVIF (developed by AOM, used by Netflix). In 2026:
- AVIF: 40-50% smaller than JPG (better than WebP), but only 50% browser support.
- WebP: 25-35% smaller than JPG, 97% browser support.
- JPG: 100% support, legacy format.
Smart websites serve AVIF to modern browsers, WebP to older browsers, JPG as the final fallback.
At-a-glance comparison
| Format | Size vs JPG | Browser support | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| AVIF | 40-50% smaller | 50% (2026) | Next-gen, cutting edge |
| WebP | 25-35% smaller | 97% | Modern standard |
| JPG | Baseline | 99.9% | Universal fallback |
| PNG | 10-40% larger | 99.9% | Transparency, text |
