If you have run your Divi site through Google PageSpeed Insights recently, there is a good chance you saw the recommendation to "serve images in next-gen formats." What that actually means is that your images are JPEG or PNG, and Google wants them to be WebP instead.
But is WebP always the right choice? What about PNG for logos and transparent graphics? And where does AVIF fit in? In this guide we break down every major image format, explain what Google recommends and why, and show you how to convert your entire Divi media library to WebP automatically — without touching a single file manually.
The Four Formats You Need to Know
JPEG
JPEG has been the standard format for photographs and complex images on the web since the mid-1990s. It uses lossy compression, meaning some image data is permanently discarded during compression, but at quality settings of 75 to 85 percent the difference is invisible to the human eye.
JPEG works well for photographs, hero images, blog post featured images, and any image with lots of colour gradation. It does not support transparency.
File size: Medium — typically 200KB to 1MB for a full-width image at original quality.
Transparency: Not supported.
Browser support: Universal.
PNG
PNG uses lossless compression, meaning no image data is discarded. This makes it ideal for images that need to stay perfectly sharp, particularly logos, icons, graphics with text, and anything with a transparent background.
The downside is file size. A PNG version of the same photograph is typically two to four times larger than its JPEG equivalent. Using PNG for photographs on your Divi site is one of the most common causes of poor PageSpeed scores.
File size: Large — often 500KB to 3MB for a full-width photograph.
Transparency: Supported.
Browser support: Universal.
WebP
WebP was developed by Google and released in 2010. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, as well as transparency — effectively combining the strengths of JPEG and PNG in a single format.
According to Google's own data, WebP lossy images are 25 to 34 percent smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality. WebP lossless images are 26 percent smaller than PNG. For a Divi site with 100 images, switching to WebP can reduce total image weight by several megabytes.
As of 2026, WebP is supported by all major browsers — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Opera. There is no longer any meaningful reason to avoid it.
File size: Small — typically 30 to 50 percent smaller than the JPEG or PNG equivalent.
Transparency: Supported.
Browser support: All modern browsers.
AVIF
AVIF is the newest format and produces even smaller files than WebP — sometimes 50 percent smaller than JPEG. However browser support is still not universal, encoding is significantly slower than WebP, and compatibility with WordPress and Divi's image pipeline is not yet consistent across hosting environments.
For 2026, WebP remains the practical choice for most Divi sites. AVIF is worth watching but not yet worth deploying across a production site without careful testing.
File size: Very small — up to 50 percent smaller than JPEG.
Transparency: Supported.
Browser support: Good but not universal.
What Does Google Actually Recommend?
Google's PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse tools both flag non-WebP images as an opportunity. The specific recommendation is:
"Image formats like WebP and AVIF often provide better compression than PNG or JPEG, which means faster downloads and less data consumption."
More importantly, serving oversized or uncompressed images directly affects your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) score — one of Google's three Core Web Vitals metrics that have been a confirmed search ranking factor since 2021.
On a typical Divi site, the hero image is almost always the LCP element. If that image is a 1.2MB JPEG, your LCP will struggle to hit the 2.5 second threshold Google considers good. Convert it to WebP and you are looking at 400 to 500KB for the same visual result — a significant improvement.
Which Format Should You Use for Each Image Type on Your Divi Site?
Image type
Hero / banner images
Blog post featured images
Portfolio images
Logos with transparency
Icons and SVG graphics
Screenshots
Background images
Recommended format
WebP (lossy)
WebP (lossy)
WebP (lossy)
WebP (lossless) or PNG
SVG
WebP (lossless)
WebP (lossless)
Why
Photographs compress well, no transparency needed
Same as above
Best balance of quality and file size
Transparency required, sharp edges
Vector format, infinitely scalable, tiny file size
Preserves sharp text edges better than lossy
Often the biggest files on a Divi site
The practical takeaway is that WebP covers nearly every use case on a Divi site. The only situation where you still want PNG is when you need transparency and are not using WebP, or when serving images to a context that does not support WebP. Neither of these applies to modern Divi sites.
How to Automatically Convert Your Divi Images to WebP
The most common mistake Divi users make is trying to manually convert images before uploading. This is time-consuming, easy to forget, and does nothing for images already in your media library.
The correct approach is to handle conversion automatically at the point of upload so you never have to think about it.
Divi Image Compressor converts every image to WebP automatically on upload using your server's native GD Library or ImageMagick. There is no API key, no monthly limit, and no images leaving your server.
Setup takes less than two minutes:
- Install and activate the plugin from the Elegant Themes Divi Marketplace
- Go to DiviPerfect > Image Compressor
- Enable Convert to WebP
- Set your quality to 80 (recommended — visually identical to JPEG at roughly half the file size)
- Click Save Settings
Every image you upload from this point on is automatically converted to WebP before it is stored in your media library.
What About Images Already in Your Library?
Converting future uploads does not help with the images already on your site. For those you need a bulk conversion tool.
Divi Image Compressor includes a Bulk Compress feature that processes your entire existing media library. Navigate to Settings > Image Compressor, scroll to the Bulk Compress section, and click Compress Existing Images. The tool processes each image in sequence and shows a progress indicator.
On a typical Divi site with 50 to 200 images, the bulk process completes in two to five minutes. After it finishes, run your PageSpeed Insights test again — on most sites the difference is immediately visible in the score.
Will Converting to WebP Break Anything on My Divi Site?
No — and here is why.
Divi Image Compressor stores the WebP version and updates WordPress's attachment metadata to point to the new file. Because this happens through WordPress's standard media pipeline, all Divi modules, dynamic images, featured images, and background images automatically use the WebP version. Nothing in your Divi layout needs to change.
The Visual Builder in Divi 5 is also fully compatible — the plugin hooks into the upload pipeline at the correct priority to avoid any conflicts with Divi's React-based architecture.
A Real-World Example
Here is a before and after from a typical Divi business site:
Before (JPEG, no compression):
- Hero image: 1.4MB
- 6 portfolio images: 4.2MB total
- Blog featured images: 2.8MB total
- Total page weight: approximately 9MB
- Mobile PageSpeed score: 48
After (WebP, 80% quality via Divi Image Compressor):
- Hero image: 340KB
- 6 portfolio images: 890KB total
- Blog featured images: 580KB total
- Total page weight: approximately 2.1MB
- Mobile PageSpeed score: 74
That improvement — from 48 to 74 — was achieved by changing image formats and applying compression. No caching plugin, no CDN, no server changes.
Summary
For Divi sites in 2026, WebP is the clear choice for almost every image type. It is smaller than JPEG and PNG, supported by all modern browsers, and actively recommended by Google. The only reason to keep JPEG or PNG is for legacy compatibility requirements that almost no Divi site has.
The easiest way to implement WebP across your entire Divi site is with Divi Image Compressor — it handles conversion automatically on every upload and includes a bulk tool for existing images. Available as a yearly subscription with full Divi 4 and Divi 5 compatibility
Frequently Asked Questions
Will my visitors need to do anything to see WebP images?
No. WebP is served transparently by WordPress — visitors with modern browsers see WebP automatically. There is nothing to configure on the visitor side.
What if a visitor has an older browser that does not support WebP?
All browsers released in the last four years support WebP. Internet Explorer is the only major browser that does not, and Microsoft officially ended support for IE in 2022. For the vast majority of Divi sites this is not a concern.
Does converting to WebP affect my image SEO?
No. Google's image search indexes WebP images the same way it indexes JPEG and PNG. Your alt text, file names, and surrounding content are what determine image search ranking — not the format.
Can I use WebP for my Divi logo?
Yes, WebP supports transparency so it works as a direct replacement for PNG logos. If your logo is a simple vector graphic, SVG is an even better choice — it is infinitely scalable and typically smaller than any raster format.
Is Divi Image Compressor compatible with Divi 5?
Yes. It is built and tested specifically for Divi 4 and Divi 5 including the Visual Builder.
Get Divi Image Compressor
Divi Image Compressor is available as a one-time purchase on the Elegant Themes Divi Marketplace. At $29/year there are no API keys, no monthly image limits, and no images leaving your server.
Divi Image Compressor is developed by DiviPerfect — a suite of Divi 5 plugins built for freelancers, agencies, and businesses. Questions? Email us at hello@diviperfect.com or visit diviperfect.com.