Requested feature overview description.
WebP is a digital image format based on VP8 wich can compress images better than JPEG can. I also propose changing the maximum thumbnail size from 150 pixels in either direction to 160 pixels in either direction in order to match the block size in at least one direction.
Why would it be useful?
Pages will load faster and users with a pay per use connection will pay less.
What part(s) of the site page(s) are affected?
All thumbnails and avatars.

I accidentaly posted it in the General category instead of Feature requests and bug reports.

Press edit and there should be an option to switch the category. Also for the suggestin itself: I'm not a specialist, but I think that this would be better suggestion for the beta site.

Pakattu_suojakaasuun said:
Press edit and there should be an option to switch the category.

Thanks.

Most browsers already support WebP .

felix_nermix said:
Most browsers already support WebP .

Most, not all. There's reason why JPG and GIF are still kings (sadly) even if they are three decades old formats. (Also once again, go bother furaffinity with these, they are enforcing GIF on all avatars, even JPG uploads.)

With posts like WebM, APNG and Flash posts, it's differend story, because users can blacklist or avoid those if they are unable to view them in any way and we also do allow filetype conversions of animated content for this reason (as long as the conversion is well made).

However with thumbnails we are now stepping over the line. Thumbnails are crusial part of how the website works and they should work as widely as the normal image posts do. So we would either need to decide to simply drop everyone who is using non-supported hardware and/or software to browse the website (I actually did test my Wii with the site not too long ago and everything works great) or alternatively serve two thumbnails on all posts, which kinda nullifies the benefits that webp could give and would require tons of coding and testing to even implement.

Mairo said:
Most, not all. There's reason why JPG and GIF are still kings (sadly) even if they are three decades old formats. (Also once again, go bother furaffinity with these, they are enforcing GIF on all avatars, even JPG uploads.)

With posts like WebM, APNG and Flash posts, it's differend story, because users can blacklist or avoid those if they are unable to view them in any way and we also do allow filetype conversions of animated content for this reason (as long as the conversion is well made).

However with thumbnails we are now stepping over the line. Thumbnails are crusial part of how the website works and they should work as widely as the normal image posts do. So we would either need to decide to simply drop everyone who is using non-supported hardware and/or software to browse the website (I actually did test my Wii with the site not too long ago and everything works great) or alternatively serve two thumbnails on all posts, which kinda nullifies the benefits that webp could give and would require tons of coding and testing to even implement.

There is a trend of increase in the use of WebP.
https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/im-webp
MercadoLibre uses WebP , and images are very important for how that website works.

https://caniuse.com/#feat=webp
Who uses Internet Explorer or Safari for other than downloading another web browser?

Android has full WebP support since version 4.3 . Nowadays there are very cheap smartphones and most people who buy a feature phone, is because they do not want to be distracted, so they are not going to use it to browse the Internet anyways.

-1. iPhones do not support WebP in Safari. Always go by the rule of which is most compatible with devices.

rysyN said:
-1. iPhones do not support WebP in Safari. Always go by the rule of which is most compatible with devices.

WebM isn't supported by Safari, either, so that rule isn't exactly being followed already. WebM has at least one app for viewing purposes, so if there is an app for WebP format (and is free), us iPhone users can use that to view these videos.

Siral_Exan said:
WebM isn't supported by Safari, either, so that rule isn't exactly being followed already. WebM has at least one app for viewing purposes, so if there is an app for WebP format (and is free), us iPhone users can use that to view these videos.

iOS and macOS support H.265 but not VP9 . Why could it be?

felix_nermix said:
iOS and macOS support H.265 but not VP9 . Why could it be?

because google made it

Not a good explanation, because google and apple ARE cooperating on AV1 video.

Probably never. Google will never support HEVC as the fees are holding them back. Apple will never support VP9 as technically, VP9 is inferior to HEVC in efficiency, and its lack of any support on the hardware level. (And even software level; it’s not even in VideoToolbox, Apple’s video acceleration API)

It’s obvious that AV1 (which Google and Apple are a part of) will be the ultimate solution to all this “multiple standards” problem. That’s a year or more away, though.

seems like a reasonable explanation to me (from https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/a92swr/why_isnt_apple_supporting_the_vp9_codec_for/ )

(note: H.265 == HEVC)

savageorange said:
Not a good explanation, because google and apple ARE cooperating on AV1 video.

seems like a reasonable explanation to me (from https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/a92swr/why_isnt_apple_supporting_the_vp9_codec_for/ )

(note: H.265 == HEVC)

I was thinking something like that.
I think we should come back to the main topic of this thread.

Siral_Exan said:
WebM isn't supported by Safari, either, so that rule isn't exactly being followed already. WebM has at least one app for viewing purposes, so if there is an app for WebP format (and is free), us iPhone users can use that to view these videos.

You can already install Chrome or Firefox on iOS .

felix_nermix said:
You can already install Chrome or Firefox on iOS .

Last time I checked, third party browsers on iOS are still limited to use same engine that safari uses, meaning exactly the same limitations with webpage rendering, including the lack of webm and webp support.

That's why current instruction is to download webm files and play them with local video player like VLC: e621:webm
Now imagine needing to download all thumbnails to local memory and check them with seperate app :p

Of course I could be wrong because I don't personally use any apple devices at all, so if someone has more up to date information do share.

-1. Compatibility should trump traffic. I myself sometimes browse e621 on devices way too old for their own good, and I’ve never had an issue.

rariteh said:
-1. Compatibility should trump traffic. I myself sometimes browse e621 on devices way too old for their own good, and I’ve never had an issue.

How old?
What kind?

felix_nermix said:
How old?
What kind?

I did mention earlier Nintendo Wii, device that's both old and where you cannot update the browser in any way :V
From August 2019.

I have also seen people doing uploads from Nintendo 3DS.

Mairo said:
I have also seen people doing uploads from Nintendo 3DS.

That is as an epic gamer moment.

Mairo said:
I did mention earlier Nintendo Wii, device that's both old and where you cannot update the browser in any way :V
From August 2019.

I have also seen people doing uploads from Nintendo 3DS.

Optional WebP thumbnails and downscaled images that you can enable at your user settings, having JPEG thumbnails and downscaled images as default. Non logged users will use JPEG .

This is way too much work for the bandwidth savings provided, the brittle nature of the webp format(they shouldn't have locked it to vp8 or this whole conversation could be so very different), and the lack of support on a major platform. Due the front facing nature of the results of the changes, there is no good way to go half way on this and make it optional and still make sense.

felix_nermix said:
How old?
What kind?

• Opera Mini 4.5 over J2ME MIDP 2.0
• Safari over iOS 9.3.5
• Nintendo 3DS (not old, yet quite basic. NetFront sucks)