gecko43

<p>Convert jpeg and png images to their webp equivalents by leveraging google’s libwebp and web assembly and serve webp images directly when supported in posts and pages.</p>
<h3>Quick start</h3>
<ul>
<li>Sign into the backoffice as an admin user.</li>
<li>Install the plugin and activate it.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Convert a single media library image</h3>
<ul>
<li>Navigate to <strong>Media > Library</strong></li>
<li>Select the <strong>list view</strong> icon</li>
<li>Locate a jpeg or png image for editing and click the media’s title link or the “edit” link under the entry.</li>
<li>Scroll down to the bottom of the edit page to the (new) <em>WebP Conversion</em> section</li>
<li>Click <strong>Create</strong> to create a webp version of this media library image on the server</li>
<li>Click <strong>Delete</strong> to delete a webp version if it exists for this media library image</li>
</ul>
<h3>Convert all media library images</h3>
<ul>
<li>Navigate to <strong>Plugins</strong> </li>
<li>Set the quality and overwrite flag as desired</li>
<li>Click <strong>Create</strong> to create webp files for all media library images</li>
<li>Click <strong>Delete</strong> to delete existing webp files for all media library images</li>
</ul>
<h3>How it works</h3>
<p>The client (browser) creates a webp version of the image when the <strong>Create</strong> button is clicked. This is then sent to the server where it is saved in the same folder as the original image, but with a <code>.webp</code> extension.</p>
<p>For example, if the original image is</p>
<pre><code>/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/test.jpg
</code></pre>
<p>an additional</p>
<pre><code>/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/test.webp
</code></pre>
<p>will be created there.</p>
<p>A filter is applied in the WordPress hook <code>the_content</code> to swap an image for its webp equivalent if available.</p>
<h3>More about the conversion</h3>
<p>Conversion is done on the client, so a modern browser with wasm support is needed. This is because conversion to webp with php requires shell_exec to make calls to Google’s cwebp or other php extensions are needed. These features often pose security risks that outweigh the benefits. This plugin gets around that by delegating the actual image conversion to the client. It’s based on <a href="https://github.com/wrburnham/webp-wasm" rel="nofollow ugc">this encoder</a> to save webp versions of uploaded jpeg and png images.</p>
<h3>License</h3>
<p>This plugin is licensed as GPLv3.</p>
<h3>Notes</h3>
<p>The simple html dom parser library is used to render webp images directly in WordPress content where possible. The client-side conversion to WebP leverages Google’s libwebp.</p>


WebP WASM

Convert jpeg and png media to webp and serve webp images when the browser supports it. This has been tested on WordPress 5.4.1 with php 7.2.

David Baumwald

<p>*** 2022-09-12 UPDATE ***<br />
@matt published a post and codified a final decision that <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/09/11/webp-in-core-for-6-1/" rel="nofollow ugc">WebP by default would not be coming to WordPress Core in version 6.1</a>.  That being the case, this plugin will not be necessary for users to prevent WebP generation by default as part of the Core upload process.</p>
<p>Proposed to be included in WordPress 6.0 is a new feature to generate and use webp images by default.  Specifically, when an image is uploaded, a WebP version of every image subsize is created.  According to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/28/enabling-webp-by-default/" rel="nofollow ugc">the proposal</a>, one downside is that generating WebP versions along with the original JPEGs will “use an additional ~70% of the storage space to store both file types.”  Although this is hugely beneficial to most websites and, more importantly, their visitors, some site owners may not be immediately able to increase the size of their storage to accommodate the additional files.  For more information, see the proposal or <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/55443" rel="nofollow ugc">the Trac ticket</a>.</p>
<p>To help site owners manage the transition, this plugin adds a setting under Settings -> Media to either enable or disable WebP creation on the initial upload of JPEGs.  For Multisite installations, the plugin can be activated network-wide or on individual sites.</p>
<p>*** 2022-07-22 UPDATE ***<br />
Although the original implementation was not merged in 6.0 due to community feedback, changeset 53751(https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/53751) merged an updated implementation that addresses some(but not all) concerns from the community. This merge will be part of the 6.1 release, unless further changes are needed.  Some site owners may not be able to immediately cope with doubling their required storage allotment with their host, so the original goal of this plugin remains.  The code has been updated to disable WebP creation on upload globally.  There is a new ticket discussing the possibility of making this feature into a setting(see https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/56263).  However, given WordPress’s core philosphy of “Decisions, Not Options”, it’s unlikely to proceed.</p>


Disable WebP By Default

Thank you for creating this plugin!  It's a shame it's necessary, but I appreciate that you created it to make it easier for site owners to be able to take back control over their sites without needing to know how to add a filter.

Thank you!

Thank you for your work with this plugin (and just keeping track and reporting all the latest WEBP changes, etc.). Great to find so much useful information in the plugin documentation. Very much appreciated!

Thank you

A small plugin to control WebP image creation when JPEG images are uploaded.

WebP WASM vs Disable WebP By Default