As I was randomly browsing through some site optimization content, I got this suggestion that I should use a “modern” image format such as “webp” to get lower image sizes and implicitly speed up page loading time. I can’t say it made a lot of sense to me that very moment, thus the rabbit hole I have soon found myself going into.
1. Introduction
To sketch out some context, the well-known imge formats such as “jpeg”, “png” or “gif” are with us for 25 years or more; they were put together in a time when both storage and cpu processing power were premiums rather than commodities. That meant accepting compromises and precise product-market fits: “jpeg” became the universal format for everyday pictures, “png” for icons or computer generated images and “gif” was mostly delegated to short animated sequences once the patent covering the corresponding compression algorithm expired in the early 2000s.