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Modern optimization trends and strict Google PageSpeed Insights requirements force developers to massively migrate to "next-generation" image formats — WebP and AVIF. Corporations unanimously claim incredible data compression and faster page loading times. However, if we put aside dry charts and look at real web design practice and the daily life of users, this transition turns into a continuous compromise and technical pain.
1. A Problem for Regular People: "I Just Want to Download an Image"
Ordinary website visitors suffer the most from WebP and AVIF. Imagine a situation: a user sees a high-quality render, an interface element, or a stock photo on a web resource and wants to save it to their computer or smartphone for further work. They click "Save image as..." and get a file with a .webp or .avif extension.
For many, this becomes a dead end. These formats are still not properly opened by older versions of operating systems, standard Windows viewers, or basic image editors without installing additional codecs. The user has to look for online converters just to transform the image into a familiar JPG or PNG. This significantly degrades the user experience (UX).
2. Junk on Hosting and Unnecessary Load on CMS
For developers, especially those working with popular content management systems (such as Joomla), implementing WebP and AVIF is a special circle of technical hell. Far from all servers correctly generate these formats "out of the box."
To automate the process, one has to install heavy third-party plugins and components. These extensions work on the principle of duplication: they take the original high-quality PNG or JPEG, convert it to WebP and AVIF, and save it on the server. As a result, instead of a single media file, three or four copies appear in the database and on the hosting. Disk space runs out several times faster, and the server wastes additional CPU resources generating images "on the fly."
3. Challenges in a Web Designer's Work
During layout design and mockup testing, using WebP often adds extra work. Color reproduction in these formats under heavy compression can be slightly distorted, which is critical for portfolio sites or online stores where color accuracy matters. In addition, older versions of some browsers (specifically, outdated Safari on macOS and iOS) still may display AVIF incorrectly, forcing the designer to write complex workarounds in the code using the <picture> tag, adding alternative paths to standard formats.
Conclusion
The WebP and AVIF formats were created by big corporations for one single purpose — to save their own backbone traffic. For real web development and human convenience, this solution still remains "raw" and compromised. The forced promotion of these standards through search algorithms forces developers to clutter websites with unnecessary plugins and complicates life for users who just want to use the Internet without additional technical obstacles.
