Developed by Google, WebP is a popular image file format which is used for replacing small, richer image file formats and making the web faster. It allows for animation, alpha transparency and both lossy and lossless compression. In lossless compression, a file is compressed and during uncompressed, every piece of information that the file originally possess was restored. In lossy compression, some amount of information is lost which is generally redundant information. Thus, webP lossless images are 26% smaller in size in comparison to PNGs, and 25-34% smaller than JPEGs at an equivalent SSIM quality index.
A WebP Magento 2 extension decreases the file size and converts to WebP image format (gif, png, jpeg, jpg, to WebP). The image compression is superior which improves the site performance and eventually leads to better UX and SEO.
Are you looking for an elixir of speeding up your slow-loading website? Web Optimized Images are the perfect solution.
Benefits of WebP for Magento Sites:
The images on an e-commerce site are highly important. It requires multiple high-quality images of a single product to give a proper visualization of the product to the customers. Although these images improve the UX, these heavy images can also slow down the website. For more than a decade, the WebP format is being used to resolve these image speed issues.
Using the WebP image format is one of the best ways to speed up your slow-loading website. Just a delay of one second in the site loading can have a huge impact on your site revenue. These are the benefits of WebP images for Magento sites:
a. Reduced website loading time:
The objective of WebP is to increase the site speed. Unoptimized images are the core factor in an e-commerce site of its slow loading. Conversion of an image into WebP format can make the site load a few seconds faster. It ostensibly may not seem a huge benefit but could be highly important for your customers. For Amazon, $1.6 billion of sales are saved in each year by just one second.
WebP images employ mixed image compression increasing the speed of websites. If we compare two sites, one with only PNG images and the other with WebP images, then the quality of the images will be same on the both sites. However, the site with WebP images will have a faster speed as the images on it will be 26% smaller.
b. Improves SEO Ranking:
It is always difficult to find out what factors are highly important in Google’s algorithm as it is always changing. However, the site’s performance is always a crucial factor for the search engine’s rankings. In 2010, Google announced that site speed will be a ranking factor for desktop search and after 2018, it became a factor for mobile search as well.
You can improve your site ranking with the WebP extensions for your Magento 2 store.
c. Optimized User Experience:
In an e-commerce site, images are the attractive point for the customers. They are also the communication mechanism of your site and play a role in purchasing decisions as well. The quality of WebP is also the same even if the size is reduced.
d. Better Conversions:
As we mentioned above, high-quality images and speed are the two important factors affecting purchasing decisions. A WebP image file improves the buying experience of customers and increases conversion rates.
Top WebP Extensions for your Magento 2 Store:
1. Magefan WebP Images Extension:
The extension offered by Magefan is leading the list and is the best WebP image extension available in the market. It offers four alternative conversion options: page load, CLI command, cron, and a combination of page load and cron. This enables you to convert photos from the original GIF, PNG, or JPG to WebP. The conversion tools such as GD,cwebp, Imagick and gifcisle are applied automatically.
Also, in case if you don’t prefer to convert images from particular media and static folders, then you can skip them. But that’s not all. To ensure that website visitors only see high-quality photos, WebP Images Extension shows your original images to browsers without WebP capabilities. The users see WebP photos that have been transformed.
The extension also converts tags of the HTML picture and CSS background images as well. Along with this, the GraphQL images and REST API requests along with pictures from external websites get converted as well.
The extension is compatible with Magento 2.2.x-2.4.x versions and its cost lies between $149 to $378.
2. Yireo Extension:
The extension offered by Yireo for converting your regular images to WebP format is 100% open-source and properly coded. The extension comes with all the basic options to convert the images. It also shows the original PNG and JPEG images if the user is browsing the site from a browser that doesn’t support WebP.
The Yireo extension is highly compliant with the Magento standards and is absolutely free with no hidden strings. There is a huge community of GitHub in its collaboration. The extension supports Magento 2.2.x-2.4.x versions and has free lifetime updates as well.
3. JajuMa WebP extension:
JaJuMa also offers a fantastic plugin for converting WebP images. Three separate tools—GD, cwebp, and Imagick—are supported by it and it allows automatic conversion. Additionally, when the page loads, it creates WebP images from your original png and jpg files.
Each WebP image that has been converted is its own file. For browsers that do not support WebP, the extension can fall back on the original images.
Because WebP Images by JaJuMa is an entirely on-premise solution, you are not required to respond using an external conversion tool. The price of this extension lies between $99 to $199. It supports only Magento 2.0 and 2.4 versions.
4. FME WebP Extension:
In terms of image optimization and WebP conversion, there are two most basic functions; one is to convert images to WebP format and if the browser doesn’t support WebP then display the original images. The FME WebP extension do both these tasks quite well.
Just like the previous extension, there are 3 different conversion tools offered by this extension: GD, cwebp, and Imagick. Additionally, it provides both automatic and manual conversions with corresponding page loads and CLI commands. Also, it enables you to set the lazyload attribute to the images and skip over a few picture directories during conversion. This extension reduces the image size to almost half and skips folders from Webp conversions. You can also set the image quality level. It also improves website SEO & performance.
However, in order for it to function, you must install the rosell-dk library, which is a separate procedure. The cost for this extension lies between $79 and $379. It is compatible with Magento 2.1.x to Magento 2.4.x versions.
5. MageComp WebP extension:
MageComp is one of the best Magento extension development companies and no doubt why its WebP extension is also on the list. The extension doesn’t only convert the PNG and JPEG files to WebP format but also allows you to upload images in WebP format to Magento.
The extension will also display the original files if the browser doesn’t support the WebP images. The price of this extension is quite affordable; lying between $79 to $228. It is compatible with Magento 2.1.x to Magento 2.4.x versions.
Wrapping Up:
In this article, we have gone through the best WebP extensions for your Magento 2 store. At Ceymox Technologies, the best Magento 2 development company in India, we are having expertise in developing such extensions as per the custom requirements. Our certified Magento 2 developers are highly skilled in developing advanced Magento stores meeting all your requirements from scratch. Contact us now!
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