There are certain standards and files types that have become nearly ubiquitous, even though they may not be the best or most efficient. MP3 is certainly one example and some would argue that JPEG is another.
Google is looking to change this, though, with the announcement of WebP - pronounced ‘weppy'. The new lossy-format promises to preserve the quality and resolution of a JPEG while reducing the file size by an average of 39 per cent.
The standard is based on the same VP8 codec that is used to encode video as a part of the WebM format. This is combined with a RIFF-based container that has been modified to be especially lightweight, requiring only around 20 bytes per image. However, the container is flexible, allowing a wide range of meta-data to be added.
WebP is still in development, and this announcement is just a showcase of the format. As well as a collection of comparison images, the developers have released a conversion tool so that users can test it for themselves. Though only Linux binaries are available at the moment, a Windows converter is promised soon.
The next stage will be to increase awareness and adoption, and the team is hard at work developing a patch for WebKit that will provide native WebP support. This should be rolled into an upcoming version of Chrome, though integration into WebKit could mean that future releases of Safari - including mobile versions - Palm's webOS and the Android browser will all be compatible.
Of course, it will take much wider support than this for WebP to overtake JPEG. Many have tried to replace older standards, but only time will tell if Google can succeed where others have failed.
