April 21, 2021

One of the easiest ways to improve your site loading time is to serve smaller images using an image format that handles image compression better. One of the newer image formats for dealing with site optimization is WebP. The WebP image format typically will produce an image that is 30% smaller than the JPG version.

There are a number of plugins that will handle WebP image conversion for your site.

Jetpack for WordPress

JetPack

Jetpack is a plugin with a service that will handle WebP image conversion on the fly for all images on your site for users on your website using browsers that support the WebP image format.

EWWW WordPress image optimizer

EWWW Image Optimizer

EWWW Image Optimizer is a plugin that has a large number of features and optimizes all site images to WebP using the bulk optimizer. If you are using the Cache Enabler plugin for a full-page cache you can use the serve WebP feature that it includes.

WebP image conversion

Imagify

The Imagify plugin includes a service that deals with WebP image conversion. Imagify includes the option to keep your original images before being optimized as well as keeping a separate image optimized version of the WebP image version.

WordPress WebP Image optimizer

ShortPixel

The ShortPixel plugin includes a service that will optimize site images and WebP image conversion. ShortPixel also has on-the-fly image conversion using their CDN. ShortPixel also includes integration in the Autoptimize plugin for the ShortPixel CDN supporting on-the-fly image conversion for WebP and AVIF image formats.

WordPress bulk image conversion

WebP Express

The last plugin that is going to be covered is Webp Express. The WebP Express plugin will allow you to bulk convert site images to the WebP image format and then serve those out on the site without much setup.

If you care about having a fast site for your site users then being able to serve out a WebP image version will improve your site load time.

Luke Cavanagh
Luke Cavanagh

Luke Cavanagh, Strategic Support & Accelerant at Liquid Web, brings a decade of experience working with WordPress and WooCommerce to our product team. His GitHub page offers a glimpse into his multiple areas of subject matter expertise.

"Ninja stuff with WordPress and WooCommerce," is an apropos way to describe Luke's savviness with these platforms — and his way of influencing our organization for improving to them.

Coming out of the University of Brighton with a Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) Higher National Diploma (HND) in 2D & 3D Design, Luke's credentials prepared him well for his current role that blends both web development and design. His HND credential leveraged his foundational learning at West Kent College, where he received a National Diploma (ND) in Graphic Design.

In his personal life, Luke is a devoted husband and teen wrangler. He considers himself a Synthwave enthusiast, Jerry Goldsmith fan, and Doctor Who aficionado. He is happy to introduce his friends and teammates to essential vocabulary for life found only in British English, such as "gubbins" and similar terms.

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