VINCENT RABAUD: Hi, everyone.
My name is Vincent Rabaud.
I work on image compression
research at Google.
This coming spring marks
10 years since we developed
the WebP image format.
This video talks about WebP,
how it's being used today,
and what we're developing
next for the web.
Some of you may be familiar
with our previous videos
on image compression, which you
can find on the links below.
WebP is an image format
designed to save bytes
on the wire for the web.
Getting better visual
quality in fewer bytes
means faster load times, reduced
data usage, and increased user
engagement.
Compared to the best
shaping encoders,
WebP can reduce file
sizes by 20% to 30%
at the same visual quality.
The lossless WebP mode
sees similar savings
over [? PNG ?] codes.
On the animation side, WebP can
produce even greater savings
over GIFs.
The format is
open-source and free,
so you can try out WebP today
by checking our developer site.
So what has changed for
WebP since the format was
first released?
Well, all along, the
encode and decode libraries
have continued to improve
not only in compression
performance, but also in
CPU and run efficiency.
Last year, we released a
1.0 version of libwebp,
with future updates
focusing only
on maintenance and bug fixes.
Huge thanks to all the
open-source contributors,
bug filers, and
testers who helped
make libwebp the code
base it is today.
Another recent change is
native browser support.
In the last year
Firefox and Edge
started shipping
with WebP decoders,
adding to longstanding support
in Chromium-based browsers
and Android.
WebP has never been available
in more places, reaching
80% of web users,
according to caniuse.com.
For browsers without support,
like Safari or Internet
Explorer, check out a prior
video on the picture element
for a JPEG fallback.
You can also use
WebAssembly to add
a decoder to browsers, only when
WebP content is being served.
For more information,
check out this video
from Google Developer
Expert Kenneth Christiansen.
The web ecosystem has
also expanded for WebP,
with new options for
essential image tool chains.
Most recently, our team launched
WebPShop, and open-source
Photoshop plug-in for importing
and exporting WebP images
in Adobe's Creative Suite.
This is on top of
existing support
in Google properties like
Android Studio and Squoosh,
as well as open-source tools
like Gimp and ImageMagick.
WebP has never been easier
to use on your site.
You won't be alone,
since more developers are
using WebP than ever before.
Beyond success stories at
Google brands like Shopping
or YouTube, companies like
Shopify, Vox, and Pinterest
have detailed how WebP
improved their sites' quality.
Now that we've accomplished so
much with WebP, what's next?
Well, as future work, we're
exploring new algorithms
that can bring an extra
25% size reduction as well
as a wider color space,
hence enabling HDR display.
Of course, we're keeping
the features that
make WebP a great compression
format for the web, animation
and lossless,
interruptibility-- meaning
you can display something,
even if your image is not fully
downloaded-- no need
for dedicated hardware,
and, of course, low CPU
and memory footprint.
Thanks for watching, and
stay tuned for updates.
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