How to set Smush plugin to support WebP format?

Smush act as WordPress One of the most popular image optimization plugins in Pro versionWebP support is provided in the With it, you can realize automatic image compression, delayed loading, and dynamic conversion of images to WebP format via CDN services. In this article, we'll walk you through configuring the Smush plugin to properly load WebP images in your WordPress site, improving page performance and overall loading speed.

Why choose Smush plugin to support WebP?

Smush Developed by WPMU DEV team, the plugin has good stability and usability. It supports image compression, image delayed loading (Lazy Load), resizing, directory scanning optimization and other features, without complex configuration can effectively improve the performance of image loading.

For WebP format support, theSmush Pro utilizes a built-in CDN service to dynamically convert images to WebP instead of generating WebP files locally. This approach is useful forNo high privilege serversis particularly user-friendly.

Preparation conditions before enabling the WebP function

Before setting up WebP support, you need to verify that the following conditions are met:

1. Your WordPress version needs to be 5.8 or above to ensure that your system has basic support for WebP.
2. Install and activate the latest version of the Smush plugin. To use the WebP conversion feature.Pro subscription requiredThe
3. Smush. CDN feature is enabled because WebP images are dynamically generated and distributed via CDN.
4. Browsers and servers should support WebP MIME types (modern browsers are basically fully compatible).

How to Enable WebP Support in Smush

1. Open the plug-in settings interface

Log in to the WordPress backend and click Smush > CDN in the left menu to enter the plugin's content distribution settings panel. If you haven't enabled CDN, the page will prompt to activate the service.

2. Enable WebP format option

Scroll down to WebP Conversion in the CDN settings and enable it.Smush's CDN will dynamically return WebP image versions for WebP-enabled browsers.

Note: When this option is enabled, the CDN will automatically replace the <img> The path to the image in the tag is in WebP format, but the original image remains for compatibility with devices that do not support WebP.

3. Save and clear the cache

After saving the settings, it is recommended to clear the site cache, browser cache, and CDN cache to ensure that the new settings take effect immediately. You can use your browser's "No Trace Mode" or Ctrl+F5 to force a page refresh to validate the changes.

How to verify whether WebP is successfully enabled

Verifying that WebP support is enabled can be done in several ways:

• Using your browser's developer tools, check if the image address suffix is .webpThe

• Use PageSpeed Insights to analyze page performance, and if the tool suggests that a WebP image has been loaded, the setup is successful.
• Directly right-click to save the webpage image and view the format, you can also indirectly verify whether it is loaded or not WebP Format.

The difference between the free version of Smush and the Pro version of WebP support

The free version of Smush, while offering image compression andlazy loading (computing)WebP support is only available in Smush Pro via a CDN.

Pro version benefits include:

• CDN support for global distribution and automatic WebP switching
• Dynamic conditional loading (returns WebP when supported by the browser)
• Higher compression ratio and lossless compression options
• Auto Scaling and Retina Support

If you need a performance boost for commercial sites, content-intensive platforms, or image-heavy blogs, you canConsider subscribing Smush Pro.

summarize

Enabling the WebP format is a great way to improve the loading speed of images on WordPress sites, optimize the user experience andImprove SEO PerformanceThe Smush plugin makes enabling WebP support simple and efficient by integrating CDN dynamic transitions, especially for users who don't have server access or don't want to deal with complex image processes.

With these settings, you can easily enable WebP support in Smush Pro to automate image compression and modern format distribution. It is also recommended to combine lazy loading, caching plugins and CDN services to build a more comprehensive image optimization system.

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