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WebP adoption became practical as browser and editor support caught up

anderegg.ca Editor score 6/10

The author traces WebP's slow adoption through browser support and shortcomings in image-editing tools, then describes switching formats. The account illustrates how ecosystem support and developer tooling affect adoption of a web standard.

What

WebP became practical for the author as browser support and image-editing tools improved.

How

Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari added support by 2020; Pixelmator Pro made WebP easier to work with than Photoshop.

Why it matters

For web engineers, improved support and tooling make format adoption practical, though file-size gains over JPEG or PNG are not guaranteed.

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