Google still pushing its WebP image format

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in code on (#3GQ)
It seems we'll never overthrow the mighty JPG as an image format, although finally PNGs are supported everywhere. The old GIF format is still used on a regular basis too. So why is Google putting such effort into pushing its new WebP format for images? Well, size, mostly.

Google developers claim WebP images yield a reduction in file size of nearly 35%. And they've been testing it too, on the Google App store, where page load time has been shortened by about 10%.

Will Google have the muscle to push WebP into common usage? Read more at the Google Chromium blog .
Reply 3 comments

Doubt it (Score: 2, Insightful)

by useless@pipedot.org on 2014-03-22 21:05 (#RM)

No one cares about file size anymore. Even mobile views of your typical news site page are multiple megabytes in size, between useless embedded video/animated gifs, dozens of tracker .js files, slideshows, using html/css to resize full resolution images, etc.

5-10 years ago when bandwidth was a premium and substance mattered more than style, maybe WebP would have caught on. Today, general users don't care, they just want the shiny things.

Re: Doubt it (Score: 2, Interesting)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-03-22 22:55 (#RN)

I'm tempted to agree with you, but then I look down at my phone, which is laboring over its crappy 3G connection to bring in a webpage, and I think, there might be use for this thing yet?

In a way, internet-over-smartphone rivals the days of dialup in terms of frustration. There are some heavy, graphic laden sites I simply don't visit on my smart phone - not worth the bother; I know it will never work. (I know, let's create a parallel mobile site with some javascript to determine if we have to send you to that one! - No, fix your f*cking site).

Re: Doubt it (Score: 2, Interesting)

by joshuajon@pipedot.org on 2014-03-24 17:52 (#SG)

While I think you're right that users don't care that's only half of the equation. If this format can offer a 10% bandwidth reduction to a content heavy web site then it offers significant cost savings and will look very attractive in that light.