Google: webp makes loading YouTube 10 percent faster

According to Google, its proprietary webp image format makes YouTube pages load 10 percent faster. On average, using webp instead of other formats results in 35 percent smaller images, according to Google.

Google reports the results on its blog after the internet giant started rolling out the webp format for several of its services some time ago. For example, the video service YouTube has recently been provided with thumbnails that are displayed in the webp format; according to Google, the first measurements show that loading web pages on YouTube is 10 percent faster.

The internet giant also states that the use of webp reduces the size of images by 35 percent. This is based on measurement data from the Google Play Store, where webp has been used for some time. When announcing webp in 2011, Google said that the format could theoretically yield a 39 percent smaller file size compared to jpeg. Using webp in its services saves Google tens of terabytes of data.

Finally, libwebp 0.4.0, currently used in beta versions of Chrome, makes encoding lossless webp images twice as fast. Decoding lossless webp will be accelerated by 25 percent, according to Google. The internet giant announced the arrival of libwebp 0.4.0 a few months ago.

With the results, Google wants to show that it is attractive for web developers to use webp. For the time being, the format is mainly used in Google’s own browsers, although Mozilla would consider offering support as well.