“Apple has begun trial runs with a Google graphics technology in a significant endorsement for an effort get websites to load faster,” Stephen Shankland reports for CNET. “Support for that technology, an image format known as WebP, is built into test versions of iOS 10 and MacOS Sierra, the forthcoming editions of Apple’s core software for iPhones, iPads and Macs. But WebP support is by no means certain: the beta versions aren’t a commitment, and Apple could choose to remove WebP support when the final versions of the software ship in the coming weeks.”
“If Apple does choose to enable WebP, Safari users and eventually others could see some websites load faster. Facebook, for example, embraced WebP after the social network found the images are 25 percent to 35 percent smaller than JPEG, the most common image format,” Shankland reports. “Adding new image formats to the web isn’t an easy decision for browser makers. Doing so adds more complexity and potential security problem to browsers. And once the web uses them widely, browser makers essentially must support those formats forever.”
“WebP is good for photos and offers transparency, and animated WebP images are dramatically smaller than animated GIF images,” Shankland reports. “Apple’s WebP support in its beta software… doesn’t extend to animated WebP, though.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ll wee if WebP sticks through the beta periods.
I hope they don’t rely on it, because it may not keep going very long.
Ewww…Google and Apple doing it…. no thanks.