The JPEG file format has been around for what feels like forever. It’s been the gold standard when you want small image sizes for websites or for sending through email. Google [GOOG] has recently been quite focussed on the speed of the web and has been encouraging webmasters to improve their html code so that pages load faster.
Now it seems that the search engine will offer up some help by introducing a new image format called WebP. The new format was announced on Google’s Chromium blog yesterday and according to the site, WebP has the potential of shrinking a JPEG file by 39% without affecting image quality. It is able to do this through the use of the open-source VP8 codec. According to Production Manager Richard Rabbat, images now make up 65% of the bytes that are transmitted on a website. It’s because of this, that the web experience can be slowed down on low bandwidth connections such as those found on some mobile networks.
To promote the new file format, Google has established a gallery site that offers a side by side comparison of JPEG and WebP images. They have also created a WebP conversion tool that right now caters to developers and is Linux only. Google has promised that a Windows version will be coming. If you’re looking to take advantage of the WebP format, you’re probably better of waiting for a while because images in this file format cannot be seen in browsers until the browser owners add support for this format. Chrome, which is a Google owned browser will be getting a WebKit patch for native WebP support.
Via: ZDNet, Trends Updates
Critics Charge Siri Ads Misleading, Deceptive
GM Pulls Out, Chrysler, Ford Keep facebook Ads
Next iPhone Model To Have Bigger Screens
Facebook Monetization Model Needs Work