As of WordPress version 5.8, you can now upload WebP images in the same manner as JPEG or PNG images. Google’s extensive study shows that lossless WebP images are 26% smaller than PNGs and lossy WebP images are 25-34% smaller than comparable JPEG images, while maintaining the same SSIM quality index. This is fantastic news for all WordPress users! And with AVIF, things get even better.
However, using ShortPixel Image Optimizer to generate WebP and/or AVIF files instead of uploading them directly to WordPress has some benefits:
- You can save a lot of time by avoiding the manual conversion of the original (JPG/PNG/GIF) to WebP or AVIF.
- If you upload WebP/AVIF images directly to your website without optimizing them first, they will remain unoptimized—just like other formats (JPG, PNG, GIF). Note that ShortPixel does not process WebP nor AVIF images. Additionally, adjusting the default compression quality can lead to images being either under-optimized or over-optimized.
- By utilizing ShortPixel to create WebP or AVIF files from your original JPG/PNG/GIFs, you will have fallback images for browsers that do not yet support WebP/AVIF (see caniuse.com).