WordPress Hosting and WebP support

WebP is a containerized graphics format that works with both lossy and lossless compression. Originally from On2 Technologies, it is now being developed by Google under the BSD license.

The format intends to be a new open standard for true-color graphics with lossy compression, and is therefore being presented as a direct competitor to JPEG, which expects to be outperformed in the production of smaller file sizes with comparable image quality.

WordPress 5.8+ supports the WebP image format.

With the launch of the Performance Lab pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party., WordPress is working intensively on optimization. In future versions, a series of messages related to the use of WebP as a format will be incorporated into the Site HealthSite Health This WordPress functionality will perform a number of checks on your installation to detect common configuration errors and known issues, and also allows plugins and themes to add their own checks..

This means that, in case the serverServer A server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. is not up-to-date, users can be alerted to contact their hostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. provider to configure the server to support this format.

The WordPress Hosting Team wants to help set up the necessary elements for WebP to work and be ready, before these new messages are included natively in the WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress..

More information from the Core Team about enabling WebP by default.

PHPPHP PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter. On a web server, the result of the interpreted and executed PHP code would form the whole or part of an HTTP response. GD

The native support feature for WebP is available in several versions of PHP. For example, in PHP 5.4+, PHP 7+ and PHP 8+.

As of now, some of the functionalities that are included:

  • Normal WebP (VP8): supported since PHP 5.4
  • Transparent WebP or alphaAlpha The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase of software testing. transparency (VP8X, VP8L): supported since PHP 7.0
  • Animated WebP (VP8X): not supported at all.

ImageMagick

ImageMagick with WebP support requires the WEBP delegate library. Specify the encoding options with the -define option See WebP Encoding Options for more details.

There are some precompiled packages:

  • Ubuntu (18-20-21): apt-get install libwebp-dev
  • Debian (9-10-11): apt-get install libwebp-dev
  • CentOS 7: yum install libwebp-devel
  • CentOS 8-9 / Almalinux 8: dnf install libwebp-devel

About WebP format

Google, in its Web optimization project, has made available a WebP information portal.

Which web browsers natively support WebP?

Webmasters interested in improving site performance can easily create optimized WebP alternatives for their current images, and serve them on a targeted basis to browsers that support WebP.

  • WebP lossy support
    • Google Chrome (desktop) 17+
    • Google Chrome for Android version 25+
    • Microsoft Edge 18+
    • Firefox 65+
    • Opera 11.10+
    • Native web browser, Android 4.0+ (ICS)
  • WebP lossy, lossless & alpha support
    • Google Chrome (desktop) 23+
    • Google Chrome for Android version 25+
    • Microsoft Edge 18+
    • Firefox 65+
    • Opera 12.10+
    • Native web browser, Android 4.2+ (JB-MR1)
    • Pale Moon 26+
  • WebP Animation support
    • Google Chrome (desktop and Android) 32+
    • Microsoft Edge 18+
    • Firefox 65+
    • Opera 19+

+make.wordpress.org/core/

#performance