The quick answer
For all new projects, websites, and web applications. WebP is 25–34% smaller than JPEG at identical visual quality, supported by 97%+ of browsers, and is the industry standard in 2025.
You need to support very old browsers (IE 11), send images via email without re-encoding, or submit to platforms that don't accept WebP.
Head-to-head comparison
| Feature | WebP | JPEG |
|---|---|---|
| File size | 25–34% smaller | Baseline |
| Quality at compression | Superior | Good |
| Transparency (alpha) | Yes | No |
| Animation support | Yes | No |
| Browser support | 97%+ (2025) | 99.9% |
| Lossless mode | 26% smaller than PNG | N/A |
| Google PageSpeed | Recommended | Flagged for optimization |
File Size Example
Real-world comparison of a 2400×1600px product photo:
- JPEG (90% quality): 487 KB
- JPEG (80% quality): 265 KB
- WebP (80% quality): 195 KB (26% smaller)
- WebP (90% quality): 298 KB (39% smaller than JPEG 90%)
At equal visual quality, WebP files are consistently 25–34% smaller. On a site with 100 product images, this means 8–12 MB of bandwidth saved per visitor.
Browser Support in 2025
WebP is supported by:
- Chrome: Since 2010 ✓
- Firefox: Since 2019 ✓
- Safari: Since 2020 (iOS 14+, macOS 11+) ✓
- Edge: Since 2019 ✓
- Opera: Since 2013 ✓
- Internet Explorer: No ✗
Total support: 97% of web browsers globally. IE 11 is the only major gap, but IE is no longer supported by any major website.
When to Still Use JPEG
1. Email attachments
Some email clients don't render WebP. If you're emailing images, stick with JPEG or PNG.
2. Printing services
Professional print services and stock photo sites may not accept WebP. JPEG is the fallback.
3. Very old browser support (not recommended)
If you're supporting Internet Explorer 11, JPEG is your fallback. But don't make your entire site slower for 0.2% of users.
4. Existing workflows
If you have thousands of JPEG files and your CMS doesn't support WebP yet, migration takes time. Plan a gradual rollout.
How to Implement WebP
For the web: Use the HTML <picture> element with a JPEG fallback:
<picture>
<source srcset="image.webp" type="image/webp">
<img src="image.jpg" alt="Description">
</picture>This tells the browser: "Use WebP if you support it, otherwise fall back to JPEG."
Simpler approach: Just serve WebP to all modern browsers and let the 3% of older browser users fall back to JPEG. Most users won't even notice.
Bottom Line
- Use WebP for all new web projects (97% support, 25–34% smaller files)
- Use JPEG only for email, print services, or legacy system support
- Use the
<picture>element if you need IE11 support (but you probably don't) - For maximum compatibility with zero effort: serve WebP to everyone and let older browsers gracefully degrade