Does WebP support animation?

WebP is Google's answer to more efficient web image delivery. It uses a more sophisticated prediction and entropy coding model than JPEG, producing files that are 25–34% smaller at the same perceived visual quality. For web developers, smaller images translate directly into better Core Web Vitals scores - Particularly Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) - And lower bandwidth costs for both you and your visitors.

Unlike JPEG, WebP supports transparency (alpha channel) and lossless compression modes in the same format. A single WebP file can replace both a JPEG (for photos) and a PNG (for graphics needing transparency), simplifying your asset pipeline. The lossy WebP encoder also handles gradients and detailed textures more cleanly than JPEG at equivalent file sizes.

As of 2025, WebP has over 97% global browser support, including all versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari 14+. For the rare cases where you need to support older browsers, you can use the HTML element to serve WebP to modern browsers and fall back to JPG automatically.

Reasons to convert JPG to WebP usually come down to compatibility, file-size, or specific feature requirements. Common situations:

• An app or platform only accepts WebP uploads.
• You need a feature unique to WebP (e.g. transparency, vector scaling, animation, multi-page pages, etc.) that JPG doesn't provide.
• You're optimising file size — modern formats often produce smaller files than the older format you started with.
• You need a single archival format across a project so files behave consistently in the same viewer.

1. Open the JPG → WebP tool on jpg.now.
2. Drag your JPG file onto the drop zone, or click Select files. You can drop a whole folder of files at once.
3. The output is fixed to WebP. If the format supports extra options (page size, transparency background, quality, EXIF stripping), tweak them in the right-hand panel.
4. Click Convert. The job runs on our server and finishes in a few seconds for typical photos.
5. Download the result. Files stay in storage for 24 hours and are then permanently deleted.

The entire flow is free for the first 10 jobs per day with no signup required. A free account doubles that quota; a premium plan removes the limit entirely.

• Target 80–85% WebP quality for web images - This matches JPEG 90% quality at roughly 30% smaller file size.
• Use WebP for hero images, product photos, and any image loaded above the fold - These have the greatest impact on page load speed.
• If you need transparency, start from a PNG source rather than JPG, since the JPG background colour will be preserved in the WebP.
• Run a quick visual comparison at 80% before deploying - Open the original JPG and the WebP side-by-side in a browser at 1:1 zoom to confirm quality is acceptable.
• For e-commerce sites, converting all product images from JPG to WebP typically reduces total page weight by 20–40% with zero visible quality difference.