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One year ago, WordPress 5.8 introduced support for WebP, allowing users to upload and use WebP images in their content. In March 2022, the Performance Team moved to expand core support for the image format by proposing WordPress enable WebP by default. This would include generating WebP images for new JPEG uploads and using WebP images for website content. In April the controversial proposal was put on hold after significant critical feedback.
After months of research, the team has reassessed its approach and summarized its findings. The concern about WebP compatibility doesn’t seem warranted, as research shows more than 97% of web browsers are compatible, as are more than 97% of email clients.
Mobile apps have strong compatibility with iOS 14+ supporting WebP (older versions will be served JPEGs) and Android supporting WebP natively from Android 4.0. The team found all the top RSS readers support WebP. The only outlier in compatibility is Open Graph consumers, which have mixed support.