Use modern image formats (WebP, AVIF)

Images are typically 50%+ of page weight. Switching from JPEG to WebP alone reduces transfer sizes by 25-35% with no visible quality change, directly improving Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and saving bandwidth for users on mobile data plans. These savings compound across every visitor and every image on the site.

Quick Reference

• WebP is ~25-35% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality (per web.dev)
• AVIF is ~40-50% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality (per web.dev)
• Use <picture> with <source type="image/avif"> and <source type="image/webp"> plus an <img> fallback
• WebP has 97%+ global browser support; AVIF is supported in all modern browsers as of 2023

Check

Scan all elements and CSS background-image declarations in this codebase. Identify: 1) Any pointing to .jpg, .jpeg, or .png files (not served via a CDN that auto-negotiates format). 2) Any elements that lack or entries. 3) Any CSS background images using JPEG or PNG when a WebP equivalent could be used. Report each finding with file path and line number.

Fix

For each image not using modern formats: 1) Convert to WebP at 80% quality using Squoosh or Sharp. 2) Optionally also generate AVIF at 60% quality for browsers that support it. 3) Wrap the original in a element and add and entries with the new files. 4) Keep the original JPEG/PNG as the fallback. For CSS background images, use a @supports (background-image: url('.webp')) { } query to serve WebP to supporting browsers.