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Google Upgrades WebP To Challenge PNG Image Format

Posted by Soulskill on from the more-cat-pictures-per-gigabyte dept.

New submitter more writes with news that Google has added to its WebP image format the ability to losslessly compress images, and to do so with a substantial reduction in file size compared to the PNG format. Quoting: "Our main focus for lossless mode has been in compression density and simplicity in decoding. On average, we get a 45% reduction in size when starting with PNGs found on the web, and a 28% reduction in size compared to PNGs that are re-compressed with pngcrush and pngout. Smaller images on the page mean faster page loads."

2 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. An even better way to decrease page load time: by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Interesting

    block google analytics.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  2. Re:NIH by 0123456 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Which is not actually that helpful, because then you have tons of PNG-capable applications that can't read PNGs. TIFF used to be this way, where TIFF actually means it can be compressed like ten different ways and support was very mixed.

    Only ten different ways? Back in the early 90s I was creating TIFF files that I doubt anyone can display these days; we had our own TIFF tags assigned and could compress files however we wanted to.

    This is why TIFF was:

    1. Very useful for app developers.
    2. A total disaster for interoperability.