topic Re: Best Image Formats for Optimizing Website Load Times – Should I Stick with WebP? in Tips, Tricks & Best Practices

Best Image Formats for Optimizing Website Load Times – Should I Stick with WebP?

MNold21 — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 13:40:42 GMT

I'm currently working on optimizing image performance on our website and could use some expert insights.

We’ve been mostly using WebP because we’ve heard it offers the best balance between image quality and load speed. Most of the images on our site are:

Hero images
Thumbnails
Gallery photos
Images in emails

We’re a luxury brand, so maintaining high visual quality is important, but so is ensuring fast load times, especially since we have a global audience and want the site to perform well in all regions.

Here are a few specific questions I’d love your take on:

Is WebP truly the best choice for all image types? Or are there scenarios where JPEG or PNG still make sense.
Are there any downsides to using WebP exclusively?
Do you use different formats based on image purpose (e.g., JPEG for photos, PNG for icons, WebP for thumbnails)?
Any other things I should be considering?

Appreciate any thoughts or best practices you've implemented. I'd love to hear what’s worked for your brand or clients.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Best Image Formats for Optimizing Website Load Times – Should I Stick with WebP?

ArisudanTiwari — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:31:14 GMT

Hi @MNold21 ,

For brands like yours where image quality matters, WebP is an excellent choice for optimizing site load times without sacrificing visual fidelity.

Why WebP is Ideal for Luxury Brands
- 25-34% smaller files than JPEG/PNG with equal/better quality
- Faster page loads = better user experience & SEO
- Perfect for hero images, galleries, and product shots where visual fidelity matters
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/webp-vs-png-vs-jpeg

https://frontendmasters.com/blog/optimizing-images-for-web-performance

As you know, no format is perfect. WebP also has some limitations:
- Email compatibility: WebP is not supported in all email clients (e.g., older Outlook)
- Editing limitations: Some design tools still don’t support WebP well
- Fallback required: Older browsers may not support WebP
https://help.picsart.io/hc/en-us/articles/22481325285405-What-Are-the-Disadvantages-of-WebP-Images
https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/113tr47/any_cons_to_using_webp_images_exclusively/

Best Practices and Considerations:
- To ensure compatibility, serve WebP images with a fallback to JPEG or PNG using HTML <picture> tags or srcset attributes. This allows browsers to load the best-supported format automatically
- Lazy load below-the-fold images to improve load speed
- Use a CDN with auto-optimization like Cloudflare, ImageKit, or HubSpot’s CDN
- Use SVGs for icons/logos and JPEG/PNG fallback in email

https://library.linkbot.com/what-are-the-compatibility-considerations-for-using-webp-images-across-different-browsers-and-how-can-you-ensure-fallback-solutions-for-unsupported-browsers/

WebP is great as your default format, but for email and special design needs, keep JPEG and PNG in the mix. A hybrid strategy gives you flexibility, performance, and control.

Hope this information helps!

Re: Best Image Formats for Optimizing Website Load Times – Should I Stick with WebP?

AGupta58 — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 10:42:21 GMT

@ArisudanTiwari I agree with your reply.

Optimizing images is super important, especially for websites hosted on HubSpot. Using formats like WebP is a smart move because it keeps image quality high while helping pages load much faster — which is great for mobile users and global visitors.

💡 Is WebP the best format for everything?

Yes, in most cases! HubSpot recommends WebP whenever possible because it compresses images really well without losing much quality. But it's important to know that:

Some email clients (like older versions of Outlook) don’t support WebP.
A few older browsers (like Safari before version 14.1) also don’t fully support it.

So, it's best to use WebP with fallback options — especially for email or older browser support.

🧩 Which formats should I use for which images?

Here’s a simple guide based on the type of image:

Image Type	Recommended Format
Hero/Gallery	WebP (with JPEG fallback for older browsers)
Icons/Logos	SVG (preferred), or PNG if transparency is needed
Thumbnails	WebP
Email Images	JPEG or PNG (best for compatibility)

⚠️ Any downsides to using only WebP?

Some emails won’t show WebP images properly.
A few older browsers don’t support it.
That’s why it’s good to have backup formats and test across devices if possible.

🔧 HubSpot-specific image tips:

HubSpot automatically resizes and optimizes images, which helps a lot — just upload images close to the actual display size.
Use lazy loading to delay loading images until needed (this improves speed).
If you’re working with custom templates, use the loading="lazy" attribute and srcset to serve the right image size to the right device.

🛠 Helpful Resources:

Image optimization in HubSpot:
Optimize images on your HubSpot pages
How to use image fields in modules:
HubSpot Developer Docs – Image Fields
Image SEO tips:
HubSpot Blog – Image SEO

📚 More useful links:

WebP browser support: CanIUse WebP
WebP in email issues: Litmus Guide
Google's WebP/AVIF optimization guide: Web.dev Guide

🔧 Tools to help you out:

Squoosh – Compress and convert images easily
TinyPNG – Great for shrinking PNGs and JPEGs
Cloudinary – Advanced image management and delivery

In short: WebP is awesome, but be smart about where you use it — stick with JPEG or PNG for emails and have fallbacks for older browsers. HubSpot handles a lot for you, but a little extra care makes your site even faster and smoother.

Ankita Gupta
HubSpot Advisor

Re: Best Image Formats for Optimizing Website Load Times – Should I Stick with WebP?

MNold21 — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 13:25:08 GMT

I appreciate your insights! Thank you!!

Now, I just need to get more familiar with how to build in fallback images on web and email.

Re: Best Image Formats for Optimizing Website Load Times – Should I Stick with WebP?

SETMeyer — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:34:14 GMT

Well, HubSpot and .webp are bad in that way that HubSpot re-compresses .webp images again. There are workarounds with direct uploads (not in the file folder, but: Maintaining Image Quality on HubSpot) but in "normal" mode when uploding them in the common folder, HubSpot tries its best to ruin them.

Means: removing details and watering down image quality. Example.

Drives our content department mad and the best way atm to prevent that but still have properly sized images to use another workaround with AVIF, because HubSpot cannot deal with AVIF properly atm.

Re: Best Image Formats for Optimizing Website Load Times – Should I Stick with WebP?

IMakkar — Tue, 05 May 2026 07:01:57 GMT

Hi, @MNold21

WebP is a good starting point - but it’s not always the right answer for every image type, especially for a luxury brand where image quality matters.

Choosing the right format
Hero and gallery: Use WebP by default, but switch to high-quality JPEG if fine details (textures, gradients) need to be preserved

Thumbnails: WebP works well for smaller sizes

Icons and logos: PNG or SVG for sharpness and transparency

Emails: JPEG or PNG for better compatibility

Using WebP effectively:
WebP is great, just be careful not to over-compress, especially for large visuals. Make sure the hero and product images still look sharp.
Biggest performance wins:
The biggest wins come from the simple stuff: don’t upload oversized images, keep compression balanced so they still look sharp, lazy-load anything users don’t see right away, and make sure mobile users aren’t getting full desktop-sized images

It’s really about keeping things fast without losing that premium look.