WebP vs JPEG: Best Format for Your Site in 2025
Comparison of WebP vs JPEG: quality, compression gains, transparency, animation and SEO performance trade‑offs for modern sites.
WebP and JPEG remain the two formats most teams evaluate first when optimizing photographs for the web. In 2025 the question is less "Should I switch?" and more "Where can WebP (or AVIF) safely replace legacy JPEG while keeping quality stable?"
Quick verdict
- Use WebP for most photographic & mixed graphic assets (smaller at equal quality, supports transparency & animation).
- Keep JPEG only for long‑tail legacy environments or when a CMS pipeline already auto‑generates modern fallbacks.
Core differences
| Feature | WebP | JPEG |
|---|---|---|
| Compression types | Lossy + lossless | Lossy only |
| Typical byte savings | 25–35% vs JPEG | Baseline |
| Transparency | Yes (lossless & lossy) | No |
| Animation | Yes | No |
| Browser support (2025) | ~97% global | 100% |
Performance impact
Switching large hero JPEGs (300–500KB) to tuned WebP frequently drops them to 180–320KB with negligible visual delta. That compounds across product grids, galleries and blog feature images—directly improving LCP & CLS risk (when combined with proper dimensions + lazy loading).
When JPEG is still acceptable
- Fallback chain already handled (e.g. CDN auto‑negotiation)
- Edge cases with extremely old embedded devices
- You need fastest encode speed in constrained environments (rare in 2025 browsers)
Migration tips
- Audit top 50 images by transfer size.
- Batch convert to WebP at quality ~75–82 (photographic).
- Visually spot check: edges, gradients, skin tones, text.
- Keep original source in version control; regenerate if future encoders improve.
Beyond WebP
Evaluate AVIF for an extra 10–20% reduction on hero media, but expect slower encoding and occasionally harsher artifacts on noisy textures at very low bitrates.
Summary
Adopt WebP as default delivery. Keep a minimal JPEG fallback only if analytics show material legacy traffic. Revisit AVIF for premium real‑estate (hero banners) and keep PNG strictly for truly lossless UI assets.