Best Image Formats for Your Website

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The best image file formats to use on your website depend on the image’s final use and how you want your website to rank in search engines like Google. Four main image formats are commonly used in modern web design: PNG, JPG, GIF, and SVG.

Each of these file types supports different image quality settings, so it’s important to choose wisely when deciding which format to use on your site. This article will explain the difference between each of these popular image formats and why they’re often the best choice depending on the needs of your particular project.

JPG

If you’re looking to share pictures and images on your website, then JPG is a file format that you should look into. The JPG image file format will give you high-quality images and a high level of detail in your pictures. It also contains lossless compression, which means there won’t be any loss of detail or quality when saving it to your computer.

PNG

This format comes in three different types: PNG-8, which uses an 8-bit palette with 256 possible colors; PNG-24, which also has 256 possible colors but supports transparency using alpha channels; and PNG-32, which enables up to 16.7 million different colors and clarity.

GIF

This is an animated image with a reduced color palette. These images can be good at grabbing people’s attention, but only if done well. They take a lot of processing power to render, and they hog up space in mobile devices’ memory too quickly.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)

This is one of several vector image formats supported across different browsers and devices. The format depends on XML, which you can scale to any size. Scalability makes it ideal for logos, illustrations, icons, and other graphics that don’t need to be constrained to a specific resolution. Yet unlike bitmap images, SVGs don’t support transparency or animation. This means they will often take up more storage space than bitmap images of equal quality.

WebP

Google’s new image format offers a 30% reduction in size without compromising quality. It was initially developed by Google and published as an accessible, open-source image format in 2010. It uses lossy and lossless compression to achieve smaller file sizes without losing quality. WebP achieves smaller files by utilizing both lossy and lossless compression techniques instead of one or the other.

Don’t Forget to Reduce File Size Before Uploading

Consider using The Alt Attribute – a new element in HTML5 Section. Use compression software to reduce the image file size by 30%. This tip alone can save you significant storage space and transfer time. Over-The-Top (OTT) Images: If it’s unnecessary to use an OTT image, don’t. Using smaller images keeps your site light, mobile-friendly, and easy to load.

The best image format on a website depends on a few factors: If you’re uploading your images to WordPress, JPEGs will be better than PNGs. But you’ll want to do more research if you’re posting your images on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. You can find all the resources you need to perfect your images on Contentful.