Photographers be aware, WordPress may convert your JPEGs to WebP soon
This isn’t a “the sky is falling” post. However, photographers that use WordPress should be well aware of upcoming changes regarding image file formats.
Sarah Gooding, writing for WP Tavern:
WebP, an image format developed by Google, which is intended to replace JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats, will soon be generated by default for new JPEG image uploads in WordPress and used for website content. The main work for this feature was committed to core for inclusion in the upcoming WordPress 6.1 release.
In other words, if this change goes through, when you upload one of your carefully edited, authored, and compressed JPEG files to your WordPress website, it will get converted to WebP to display to your website’s visitors. There should, and likely will, be a way to shut this off. But currently it won’t be as simple as turning a setting on or off. Again, here is Sarah:
The notion that WebP by default should be opt-in was summarily dismissed and the conversation was not revisited before the changes were committed.
So far, if things continue as they are, WordPress users will need to find or write a plugin that will shut this feature off. I plan on writing one before I upgrade to WordPress 6.1 just in case.
What are my thoughts on WebP? They aren’t fully formed. Time moves on. Formats change. Based on the arguments of others that Sarah summarizes in her post, it seems like WebP is of little benefit in certain circumstances but could be a fair benefit in others.
I’ll be watching to see how this shakes out. If you use WordPress and would be concerned about an adjustment like this, it would be good if you did too.
Update Aug. 29 2022: It appears this has been shelved for the time being.
@cdevroe The fact this image format by Google is being forced on the internet should raise a lot of questions.
@cdevroe I was surprised by the push for WebP in WordPress. Some file formats (HTML, JPEG, PNG, MP3) are universally supported and should last forever. Replacing them just isn’t that important.
@pimoore When I download a photo from my browser (Brave) it’s always WebP format, which I then have to run through a program to convert it to JPEG before i can use it for anything. Progress!
@JMaxB Progress for Google’s continued efforts to control the entire internet experience, yes. That’s a ridiculous workflow to get images back into a universally supported format.
@cdevroe This is a daft move on WordPress’s part. I think we need a blog/CMS platform to replace WordPress. Unfortunately I don’t see one right now.
@bradenslen @cdevroe This is exactly the reason why I ignore web metrics that slap your hand for not using “modern image formats like webP”.
Nice try, Google.
@bradenslen yep, I’m of the same opinion … and I don’t see an alternative either
@bradenslen Is Joomla going anywhere these days? That was the first DIY CMS that I used.
@cdevroe wtf? Why? Another reason to abandon WP and micro blog.
@pimoore Anything invented and pushed by Google is suspicious by default and probably only benefits Google.
@bradenslen There is one, it’s called ClassicPress and it’s wordpress before wordpress went crazy!
@alexink @bradenslen Something tells me that would be on borrowed time.
@manton the push for Webp appears to follow SEO recommendations related to page loading speed.
@odd @jemostrom I’m way out of date on Joomla. The beauty of WordPress is once installed a non-tech person like me can run it. Most people never have to mess with CSS, Php or directly edit themes. And it can be extended pretty painlessly with plugins. Most other blog platforms just are not as smooth as WP. The other problem is hosting support – every host pretty much has WP hosting perfected but with the other CMS’s each version update is like Russian roulette.
@bradenslen I see. I think I have forgotten about how Joomla just took more effort, and wasn’t as obvious. My domain host do offer both, but as you say, may not be as reliable with Joomla.
@bradenslen @odd I installera Joomla many, many years ago but I didn’t like it, it was full of bugs and general ugly (this was before 2010) so I used Drupal for a year or two. It had some features that I really missed when I switched to WordPress. The last 10 years or so I’ve been hopping between WP and various static systems. From what I’m seeing WP is moving in a direction I’m not interested it. So at the moment I’m using Blot, Micro.blog and BBEdit.
@manton I need to dig in a bit more, but this change must benefit large hosts like WordPress.com than it does individual WordPress users.
@alexink Abandon micro blog?!
@pimoore Should be called WebPooooooooop. amiright?
@bradenslen The thought of switching away from WordPress exhausts me!
@jemostrom @odd @pimoore This is the thing, I’ve got a couple of projects that I’d like to start but WordPress is not moving in the direction I want to go. I question if WordPress will still be usable for me in 5 years. So I end up starting nothing new because I don’t trust WP.
@cdevroe Me too. I’ve looked at almost every blog platform out there until I can hardly see straight and none do quite what WordPress can do. The “light weight” are all missing one or more important feature. Of the heavy weight’s B2evolution might be best but there is a lot to learn.
@bradenslen I’d probably opt to build my own. I need so little.
@cdevroe that is bad.. I was playing with the idea of hosting a photoblog on wp.com instead of building something custom for microblog.. 🤨
@bradenslen I can’t see myself returning either. Have you tried some of the static site builders?
@odd I wasn’t clear what a “static site” was, so I looked it up. Turns out it’s what I used to call a “site”.
@cdevroe No, no, I meant, abandon wordpress FOR micro blog. I forgot to include that all important comma.
@cdevroe I vote we change the official name to this one. 😂
@topgold @manton Problem is, that same SEO is the one Google has a monopoly on.
@JMaxB Yes, and I meant to write static site generator, not -builder. Still a site, but generated by tools.
@cdevroe I get the notion but WEBP is a good format, even if it’s not widely accepted. All browsers and all modern image editors support it.
@odd No. I’m a plug and play kinda guy and I wouldn’t know where to start.
@cdevroe @pimoore I’m now calling it WebP(oo) format.
@bradenslen Same here
@pcora I’ve tried that but it didn’t work at all for me, I’ve tried some gallery plugins but it’s still crap. WP and photos are a bad combination. In my opinion WP is really, really bad for managing media.
@jemostrom @pcora I really like Glass for photos, and it’s easy to share back to Micro.blog as well. I don’t think WP was ever truly geared toward heavy photoblogs, and I don’t see this change helping with that.
@pimoore @pcora yep, Glass is nice and I use it to share a photo or two. But personally I don’t want to “burden” people in general with my photos, I wanted a place where I can upload and only the people who are interested need to look at them. I’m using Smugmug for galleries, or for events I’m asked to photograph.
But I would love to have a CMS that would handle everything.
@alexink +1 for ClassicPress, although whether it will stay the course and mature is by no means certain yet.
@jeremycherfas It would be a shame if it didn’t last as it’s the perfect antidote to the current version of wordpress. Once they pushed Gutenberg on us, I left and took up classicpress.
@cdevroe WebPoop format sucks! Went to a site yesterday (using Firefox) and images are all WebPoop. Shifted to Safari and the images are now JPEG. Is there a plug-in that ditches WebPoop for other format?! :)
@alexink I agree, and was one of the first to offer concrete support via Open Collective. It needs a more reliable income stream than that though, like hosted WP.com but I have not yet seen that being discussed.
@jemostrom same feeling I had. I am trialing with Smugmug now.
@jemostrom @pimoore, I like Glass, but I want to publish on my own site, not on someone else’s. And I want to be able to post photo stories or some galleries from time to time. Glass is supposedly going to work on that in the future, which will be nice, but it will still be their site, not mine. And to be honest, ever since they started having “Appreciations” I started posting less.
@pimoore @pcora as I’ve understood it Matt first used WP to share photos from his travels 🤷🏼
@pcora @pimoore if you really want to host yourself you need to look at something like Piwigo (dynamic) or jAlbum (static)
@jemostrom @pimoore It can be done through a site like smugmug or even wordpress or squarespace, but I’like to be able to at least map to my domain.
@cdevroe
@cdevroe There are a lot of responses on this… some I don’t see due to how Micro.blog works. But I will try to get to them all!
@JMaxB 😂
@alexink Ah yes!
@yurymol What notion? I hope my post does not make it seem I am against this change. I’m simply saying people should be aware. My opinion is not fully formed yet.
@bradenslen WebPuke?
I kid I kid. I don’t have an opinion on the format itself yet.
@jemostrom I agree. I’ve used it for nearly 20 years and it is a battle to use for media.
@alexink I will say, Gutenberg is amazingly good. I can see why some would turn it off. But for what it does, it is currently best in class. (And this coming from someone that spent $1M and 2 years building a WYSIWYG web site editor).
@rom I’m certain there will be by the time this ships.
@Mandalorian 😄
@cdevroe LOL! I don’t have an opinion on the format either and I do know that many webmasters upload way over bloated images for display on the web. They just don’t know any better. But if I upload a .jpg or a .gif file to my hosted, paid WordPress instance, I expect it to stay a .jpg or a .gif. I don’t expect it to be changed into a different format without a by-your-leave. I consider that a hostile act. Unless WordPress is going to start paying my hosting fees.
That said, on WordPress.com it might make sense.
A lot will depend on the UI. If we can just check a box that says No WebP(oo) images and forget it then it might be okay.
@alexink How has Classicpress worked for you?
@jemostrom @pcora There’s also Pixelfed as a self-hosted option.
@cdevroe I’m sure it is, and many people love it. But for people who just basically blog, and write one post a day, it’s overly complicated. It’s like taking out an expensive typewritter in order to type up a post-it note. ;-)
@jeremycherfas I’ve found them to be a reliable alternative and, so far, they’re covering all the basics and, after all, that’s all I want.
@bradenslen I’ve found it’s worked perfectly for what I want, a simple straightforward blog posting system. It’s wordpress at 4.9 before WP started adding stuff.
Yes, it’s limited with regard themes and plugins, and I don’t have Jetpack. But then, I never wanted Jetpack or a load of useless plugins either.
I guess it all depends on what you want to do with your blog/website.
@alexink Thanks. I think there is a future for the ClassicPress fork. I’m seeing more and more WP plugins that only work with the block editor and I think that many more bloggers will migrate to ClassicPress as WP continues to morph into a marketing CMS.
@bradenslen So much of the US Government is on WP 5.9.1 and will not be moving on any time soon. Classic editor will be with us for a long time
@bradenslen Well, I hope it continues long into the forever sunset, and yes, I can see others wanting to move to a less cluttered version of wordpress.
@cdevroe GoDaddy Websites does that. Try to download an image from CeruleanSounds.com and it’s .webp