This is a PNG.
This is a WebP.
One of these images is a PNG, and one is a WebP. The PNG is 12KB, and the WebP is 5KB. Do you see a difference between the two?
Me, neither.
I’ve been a steadfast PNG supporter since time immemorial. Cringing at any sight of JPEG compression. Way back in the way when forums were still big, and users spent inordinate amounts of time creating cool-looking signature images, I was big into PNGs. I prided myself on every aspect of my little 300×100 pixel PNG box. But mostly the crisp lines and vibrant colors.
When creating images for a site, I’d typically use (old-school) Photoshops ‘optimize for web’ feature for PNGs. This did a pretty decent job at compressing my PNGs to reasonable sizes.
But, nothing ever gave me such a boost as a WebP. Even for large images full of color, I can still drop a picture from 1.2MB to 680KB, while maintaining the same visible quality! That’s insane!
One of these days when I have more time and energy I’m going to read some more specs on how this works, but until then, I’m just going to go on living like it’s pure magic and my days will be a little brighter for it.