Having a fast site which serves the smallest sized optimized images is something that everyone wants. We have already covered options within the ShortPixel CDN and if using the Polish feature in the Cloudflare CDN.
We are going to cover two other plugin options to be able to serve site images in the next-gen WebP image format.
The first plugin that we are going to cover is the WebP Express plugin. After you have installed and activated the plugin you can access the settings from;
Settings > WebP Express
The operation mode by default will be set to be varied image responses if you are using a CDN with a site like Cloudflare then you should set the operation mode to be CDN friendly.
In order to be able to serve WebP images, you will need to convert the existing images on your site by clicking on the Bulk convert button.
WebP Express will work with a number of plugins like ShortPixel, Cache Enabler, and CDNs like Cloudfront. The WebP Express plugin can work with free plans on Cloudflare.
The second plugin that we are going to cover is WebP Converter for Media. After you have installed and activated the plugin you can find the plugin settings from;
Settings > WebP Converter
The plugin’s settings are very minimal and it requires less set than other WebP conversion plugin options.
The plugin will generate .htacess files in the following paths;
/wp-content/.htaccess
/wp-content/uploads/.htaccess
/wp-content/uploads-webpc/.htaccess
The converted WebP images will be stored within the wp-content folder in the following path;
/wp-content/uploads-webpc/
The WebP Converter for Media plugin will work on both Apache and NGNIX server stacks. The plugin does not work with a CDN which is something to be aware of.
Between the two plugin options for WebP image conversion, I would recommend going with WebP Express since it has more options and will work with CDNs.
Being able to easily serve the next-gen WebP images on your site will improve site load times.
