While attractive images support customers' purchasing decisions, they significantly slow down your store. Especially if you have a large catalogue. That's when Magento WebP comes in handy as the next-gen file format.
Ready to learn everything you need to know about WebP in Magento?
What Is WebP?
WebP is a next-generation image format introduced by Google in 2010. It was built to replace older formats like JPG and PNG by offering significantly smaller file sizes without sacrificing quality.
On average, WebP delivers: 26% smaller files than PNG and 25–34% smaller files than JPEG.
WebP supports both compression types:
- Lossless compression – reduces file size without reducing quality.
- Lossy compression – reduces file size with a barely noticeable quality change.
In short, WebP keeps your image quality high while dramatically reducing the file size. Thus, using WebP in Magento is especially beneficial for image-heavy websites.
Is WebP Better Than JPG, PNG, or GIF?
The short answer — yes. WebP format was created to replace older PNG and JPG because it loads faster, improves performance and enhances the Core Web Vitals. All without a major quality loss during compression.
Like any eCommerce store, yours probably has thousands of product images along with many others from blog, CMS pages and blocks. Switching to WebP offers better user experience, higher engagement and higher rankings in Google.
And considering Google PageSpeed Insights recommends you to serve images in next-gen formats, its worth a try.
Do All Browsers Support WebP?
Most modern browsers — like Chrome, Safari (macOS/iOS 14 and later), Firefox, Opera, and Microsoft Edge support WebP. This means that the majority of your Magento store visitors will get a faster-loading experience.
However, some older versions of those browsers are not compatible with the WebP. So, if you serve WebP images directly, users from those browsers may see broken images.
So, to ensure full compatibility, your WebP extension should:
- Detect the visitor's browser
- Server WebP files only to those browsers that support WebP
- Fallback onto original PNG/JPG copies for non-WebP browsers.
Does Magento 2 Support WebP Natively?
No, Magento doesn't support WebP images by default. This means that you can't upload WebP images to Magento directly. The platform won't generate and show WebP images automatically on the frontend.
So, to add WebP compatibility to Magento, you must use a Magento 2 WebP Images Extension, develop a custom solution or serve WebP images from the server side.
Can You Upload WebP Images Directly to Magento Admin?
No. You can't upload WebP files to the Magento admin directly. It will throw an error since it doesn't recognise this format.
If you still want to have the direct download, you need to install a third-party WebP converter.
Why Aren't WebP Images Showing in the Media Gallery?
There are several reasons for this, depending of the solution you use to add WebP support to Magento:
- Magento doesn't allow you to upload a WebP file, so the media gallery won't show any images (you won't even be able to upload any).
- You use the that only serves images on the frontend.
- Your theme or server doesn't handle the MIME type properly.
To fix this and see WebP images in the Magento media gallery, make sure that your WebP solution supports admin upload or media gallery preview.
Should You Upload WebP Images Directly to Magento?
It is not recommended to upload WebP directly to Magento for a number of reasons:
- Magento doesn't support direct WebP upload.
- Some browsers still don't support WebP, so serving them directly will cause broken images for those browsers
- You need to fallback on original PNG or JPG images for non-WebP browsers
The best practice is to upload regular PNG and JPG images to Magento and let a dedicated WebP extension convert them to WebP automatically. This ensures the best performance and user experience across all browsers.
How Do You Convert Images to WebP in Magento 2?
The easiest way to convert images to WebP is to use a Magento 2 WebP Extension, since it:
- Generates WebP images automatically from all your website pages.
- Detects browser compatibility and serves WebP or falls back to original images.
- Keeps a copy of the original images
- Support WebP conversion for images in sliders, page builder, CSS background images, APIs and even images from external websites.
- Support direct WebP upload to Magento.
How Do WebP Images Affect Magento Performance?
Since WebP files are significantly smaller than traditional PNG and JPG, and you can make them even smaller with the quality store, they do improve your website speed.
WebP can reduce the page load, improve LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), reduce server loads and improve mobile performance.
All these lead to better SEO rankings, lower bounce rates and better conversions.
However, don't consider WebP images a magic pill that fixes all your speed issues. Consider combining it with image lazy load and exploring other ways to speed up Magento to get the best results.
