The “Optimal Image Format” for Each Browser

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Chris Coyier on (Updated on )

Perhaps you’ve heard about the WebP image format? And how it’s a pretty good performance win, for the browsers that support it? Well that’s only for Blink-based browsers, at the moment. Estelle Weyl’s article Image Optimization explains the best image format for each browser:

Browser Optimal image format
Chrome WebP
IE 9+ / Edge JPEG-XR
Opera WebP
Safari JPEG-2000

And you can serve these formats through the <picture><source type=""> syntax.

Couple that complexity with the complexity of responsive images, and it really seems like outsourcing image delivery to a dedicated service seems like the way to go. At least above a certain scale.

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