How to Convert Images to WebP (and Why It Speeds Up Your Site)

Images are usually the heaviest thing on a web page. Converting them to WebP can cut file sizes by 25–35% with no visible quality loss — which means faster pages, happier visitors and better SEO. Here is how to do it.

Why WebP matters

WebP is a modern image format supported by every major browser. It delivers the same visual quality as JPEG or PNG at a much smaller size. Smaller images mean a faster Largest Contentful Paint — one of Google’s Core Web Vitals — so this is one of the easiest performance wins available.

Option 1: Online converters (no install)

For a few images, tools like Squoosh (by Google) or CloudConvert let you drag, drop and download a WebP in seconds, with a live quality preview. Perfect for one-off conversions.

Option 2: Bulk convert with one command

If you have lots of images, the cwebp tool (from Google’s libwebp) converts a whole folder fast. After installing it, run:

for f in *.jpg; do cwebp -q 80 "$f" -o "${f%.jpg}.webp"; done

That converts every JPG in the folder to WebP at quality 80 — a great balance of size and clarity.

Option 3: Let your CMS do it automatically

Most modern platforms can serve WebP automatically. On WordPress, plugins like Imagify or ShortPixel convert and serve WebP on the fly. Many modern site builders (and good custom builds) do this out of the box.

A few tips

• Quality 75–85 is usually the sweet spot — smaller files, no visible difference.
• Always resize images to the size they are actually displayed at before converting.
• Keep originals; serve WebP with a fallback for very old browsers if needed.

Want a genuinely fast website?

Image optimization is one piece of the puzzle. If your site feels slow, I can audit it and make it fast — images, code, hosting and Core Web Vitals included.