Gadgets Blog » WebP: Google Delivers New Image Format

Oh Google, is there anything you can’t do?

Over the last few months we’ve been taken for quite the ride in terms of their accomplishments. After expanding into Apple’s turf with announced plans for Android tablets, Google decided to bring us a new way of obtaining music off the internet, improvements to their incredibly successful Chrome operating system, and expansions for both Google Maps and Google Books. Today’s featured story proves, once again, that the company born out of an internet search engine aims to change the digital landscape once again.

The idea behind WebP, Google’s own image format debuted earlier this week, is simple. Through the WebP format, the efficiency of websites displaying images and the processing power required to display them online could be drastically improved. The goal of WebP is to replace JPEG, one of the most common image formats with digital cameras and image-editing software. While JPEG has certainly had a successful run, the new WebP format requries 30-40% less connection speed while downloading, something that could optimize Google’s operation as a whole.

It’s an understandable goal. Google’s search engine handles impossibly high number of searches and images every day, with visitors placing a serious tax upon their systems. This increase in efficiency would be distributed across all of these searches with important results for the company. While WebP also suffers from a decrease in quality of the image like other formats, its not noticeably different in any sense, especially to the untrained eye.

Google will have a tough road to get widespread implementation however. For one, the format isn’t even capable of being used in browsers at the moment, and the sheer number of photos on the web will likely delay a serious increase in market share. Additionally, JPEG format comes on just about all digital cameras, making there a need for both hardware and software changes on the market. Yet if the success of Google Chrome tells us anything it’s that the company can break into a market regardless of preexisting obstacles in their way.

Image Source: flickr.com/photos/olivepress/93182294/

See also:

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3. What Do You Think About the New Google Chrome Browser?
4. Google Updates Chrome to Version 6
5. Google Begins Complete Absorption of YouTube
6. Some Basics About Browsers: IE, FireFox, Chrome or Safari?
7. Google Takes on iTunes
8. Google TV: Sony Unveils TVs Powered by Google
9. Where’d They Go? How Google “Lost” a Florida City